A Light within the Darkness
by The Maiden of Light
Summary: Squee's parents hire a kind girl named Rose to be his babysitter. What will happen when she has to get used to encountering a crazy murderous nextdoor neighbor? And what does Johnny have to say about her? Completed.
1. A Lovely Guardian

A Light within the Darkness

The day was very bright and warming. So much unlike the neighborhood it shined upon. The block of houses was indeed not one to be admired by first sight. Flower gardens were unkept and withered. Paint on houses chipped and peeled. One house in particular was less homey than an abandoned beach shack. It was hard to forget with the address number 777 slightly tilted beside the door. Whether or not someone lived in it did not change the fact that it wasn't very pleasing to look at. It looked as though the lawn was never mowed once. It was a blessing that this wasn't the house she was directed to work at.

A tall and thin girl walked apprehensively down the uneven and slightly crumbled sidewalk. Whenever she passed through this neighborhood, she felt chills pull at her skin. It was just so scary. Last time she heard a muffled scream she prayed came from a television set. She passed the dark, dilapidated house and turned into the walkway the friendlier house beside it. Not much, but much nicer than the house next door. Before knocking on the door, she tugged on her lean denim jacket and brushed the invisible wrinkles out of her breezy pink skirt. It fell to her knees so she looked conservative and professional instead of flirty or trashy. She really didn't want to disappoint her new employer. A few strands of dark chestnut hair fell over her eyes, which she tucked back behind her ear. She was called for a one night babysitting job from this couple that recently moved in to watch their son.

She gently pressed the little white doorbell. She could here a tiny ring within the house. Two sets of footsteps, a loud one and a quick soft one, approached the door. It squeaked loudly as the door smoothly swung open, revealing a tall man with glasses that was slightly shadowed within the dark insides of the house and a little trembling boy with a teddy bear beside him. The child looked rather nervous and was definitely shy. He hugged his bear much tighter.

The girl wasn't even given the chance to introduce herself when the man spoke gruffly, "Are you the babysitter?"

She replied with a forced smile, "Yes."

The little boy was roughly shoved outside and he stumbled into the girl's quick arms to break his fall.

The father spoke again as he grabbed the doorknob, "There you go, be back by eleven."

She called before the door closed, "Wait! Does he have any allerg…?"

The door slammed shut and the footsteps within faded away from the door. She looked down the trembling child before her. He didn't look up. Perhaps he was ashamed of his father, or nervous from being away from him. She kneeled down to eye level with him.

Putting on a friendly face, she talked to the boy, "Hi, my name is Rose, but you can call me Rosie."

His huge rounded eyes looked up from his bear as he responded, "I'm Todd, but my neighbor calls me Squee."

Rose tilted her head a bit, "Squee? That's a funny name. Do you want to be called Squee?"

He nodded. He didn't seem to mind the odd name, perhaps even favoring it above Todd.

She gently took his hand and stood up, "Well then, Squee, I think an ice cream sounds god right about now."

His whole face lit up when a concurring smile spread across it. His eyes may have even grown a bit wider too. Rose smiled a bit too. She believed that this little friendship of theirs might work out just fine.

_Disgusting pigs. They just sit there on that blench flirting with each other while anyone can run up and snatch their little sisters. Stupid teenagers, they don't care about anything but themselves. I sort of feel sorry for those little kids they are supposed to be watching…_

A very sullen young man clothed in complete black was standing in the shade of the lush elm tree he was leaning against. His mouth was occupied around the straw of a Cherry Doom Brainfreezy as his sunken eyes glared upon the people sharing the park with him. His eyes kept moving from the two little innocent girls playing with Debbie Dolls in the sand box to the teenage girl and boy talking on the bench. He was disgusted when the guy was trying to act smooth and cool.

The young man leaning against the tree scowled. His skin was ghostly pale in contrast to his dark attire and hair, which didn't seem to matter which direction it went in. His shirt, which said 'Smile you Jerk' was all black with the exception of the sleeves which were alternating thick black and white stripes. But were half covered by long black gloves. The matching black pants were cut off at knee length and were followed by tall thin black boots with heavy silver buckles.

_The filth of this world is still so thick. And even though my selection to purify it does thin it out, my own soul becomes even more unclean… _

Thunk!

His little fantasy world was interrupted when a flat flying disc soared his direction and struck him right above the eyebrow. He cursed madly as his grip released on the iced cherry beverage.

"Who threw that!" He shouted as his skinny hands clenched into tight little fists.

A small crowd of little boys with ragged jeans and skate boards snickered not too far away.

The man's eyes narrowed dangerously "Get over here!"

The chase began. The boys stole off on their skateboards and zipped away with the agile stick figure of darkness chasing them. His speedy feet were almost caught up to them. The skate rat in the back was close enough to him. His hood was within grabbing distance. He reached out his arm and…

Fwham!

The scene was only filled with the man's face planted in the ground, the toy dump truck he tripped over, and the ungrateful maggots getting away and rolling down the street. Imaginary steam poured out his ears as he stood up and brushed the dirt off his face and front. His teeth were fiercely locked and his eyes a flare with anger and defeat. His disappointment so overwhelming that he couldn't even catch a bunch of rotten kids.

"Johnny!"

His ears pricked to the sound of a young child's voice call his name. Approaching behind him was his little neighbor friend hand in hand with a girl of about nineteen, both of them carrying Moose Tracks ice cream cones.

"Hello, Squee." Johnny's face contorted into a smile to greet his little friend whom he seemed to scare more than please. He noticed there was something different about Squee today. Could it be the happy look on his face? Or did the child merely love ice cream? And who was this young lady accompanying him?

Johnny gave a strange look of curiosity towards her, "And who is this?"

Squee looked up to his guardian before turning back to Johnny, "That's Rosie. She's my babysitter."

Rose transferred her ice cream cone to the other hand and extended her free one, which Johnny shook in greeting, "I suppose that you are the neighbor that Squee has told me of."

"Yep, that's me. Johnny, but you can call me Nny for short." His coat tails quivered in the wind a bit as he gave a courteous bow. His spine cracked a few times in the process heard by all three of them. Squee twitched a bit.

Rose tilted her head a bit as a confused eyebrow was raised, "That is truly odd. Most people who abbreviate Johnny just want to be called John. Nny? Creative, but odd."

"Hmm. Well. I have some business to take care of, so, I will see you later Squee. And perhaps you to Rosie."

He nodded his head before walking towards the direction the skate boys escaped in early. He seemed to disappear if you didn't watch him the whole time, which Rose did. She couldn't help but find him fascinating in such a strange way. It was almost scary. It was probably his choice of attire. The last she saw of him was his fading shadow.

Rose asked, "I wonder what he's up to."

Squee shrugged before licking up some ice cream dripping down the side of the cone, "Probably going to kill someone. He does that sometimes."

She started laughed with a light heart, "You're a funny kid, Squee."


	2. Psycho in Black

The expression on his face quite blank. Johnny continued to put pointless thoughts of his little crazy stick figure in his head to keep it clear from the voices he heard all the time. He lay on the rumpled sheets of his bed with a half drawn Happy Noodle Boy comic on his lap, all while chewing the eraser of his pencil. The doughboys were always trying to pry into his head when it wasn't too preoccupied. But unfortunately, they always find a way.

"It seems like that little kid you like so much about find has someone who actually cares about him." A scary voice crept.

Johnny rolled his dark eyes, "Shut up. And why do you care?"

Mr. Eff spoke once more, "With worrying about his pathetic welfare being out of the way, you can concentrate on more important things!"

"Squee needed someone, his parents probably wouldn't care, or even notice, if their son was replaced with a screwed up cow!" Johnny retorted.

Psycho Doughboy's voice emerged, "Yes, now that the kid has someone else to deal with him, you can keep your head out of the crap, and focus on what really matters!"

Johnny viciously stabbed his Invader Zim pencil straight through the pad of notebook paper. His demon eyes glared hatefully upon the two Styrofoam figures with little chef hats.

He said through gritted, uneven teeth, "What matters? What does matter, that wall! I am not a slave to it! If I were, I'd be chained to it like those other idiot scumbags. I'm sick of wasting my life on it."

But his rant was unacknowledged by the doughboys

Mr. Eff said coolly, "Do you know what is on the other side of that wall?"

Johnny looked away and shook is head. He really didn't know, or want to find out. All he knew was that it was a terrible creature that must not be freed. That is why he killed. To keep the beast locked away.

_ Speaking of which, it is time for a fresh coat._

Johnny stood up from his bed and frumped towards the door, but before he got there, he froze.

He spoke quietly, "Psycho Doughboy? Mr. Eff?"

The Styrofoam answered in unison, "What?"

He whipped around and drew two long knifes with serrated edges. He threw them too fast to be seen and struck both figurines between the eyes. The two were pinned to the wall in an instant and screamed of betrayal. Johnny merely shrugged it off and walked out the door to the basement torture chambers.

Squee and his faithful teddy bear friend, Shmee, were busying themselves with pushing little plastic race cars around a track drawn on the drive way with blue chalk. He was waiting patiently for his loving babysitter to arrive. It was about eleven thirty in the morning. Squee's mother had already informed him to play outside or help himself to a cold glass of antifreeze if he wanted to stay inside. As long as Rosie got to play with him today, he couldn't care what mean things his mommy and daddy tell him. As he raced the inanimate stuffed animal around the crooked track, obviously winning, she saw his Rosie coming down the side walk. Today she was wearing a white fluttery sun dress with the little denim jacket she wore the day before. She wore pearly white sandals that neatly laced up around her legs in thin straps to her knees. Her shiny dark chocolate brown hair was up today in a ponytail that tickled the back of her neck. As always, she looked pretty.

"Hello Squee," she smiled brightly at him.

His big eyes flashed happily as she greeted him. He abandoned his little plastic car, it wasn't like Shmee was going to pass him anytime soon, and hugged her around the knees. Almost like a child who was longing for his mother to return home from a long trip.

She rested her hands on his little shoulders, "Guess where we're going today."

Squee looked up to her. His mind was racing with all the places he could think that were much more fun and nicer than here. His mouth was speechless and his eyes were practically bulging. It was obvious his little mind couldn't take the suspense of finding out.

He asked with excitement, "Where? Where!"

All she did was hand him a flyer she cut out from a newspaper.

New at the Wonder World Zoo

It's all fun in the dark this Saturday night with the all new, one night only, Nocturnal Exhibit.

All your favorite night dwellers after the sun goes down.

Starts after sunset.

Squee nearly exploded with joy, "Yeah! We're going to the zoo! We're going to the zoo!"

Rose joined in his little dance skipping and chanting around the drive way. Little did they know that two demonic looking eyes were peering through the boards nailed over the window.

Johnny sighed nonchalantly, "I wish I were loved that way."

Suddenly, the sound of something beeping from the kitchen interrupted his thoughts. It was the smoke alarm.

"MY SKETTIOS!" Johnny screamed before dashing to the kitchen to save his burning lunch, cursing the whole way about his problem of remembering not to abandon things on the stove.

The sun had finally set that day. The sky was cast with pinks and purples in the last light of the sun. The moon was a half faded croissant pearl face. Tiny little diamond stars begin pushing into the darkening sky of blue. Chattering people had already begun lining up for the nighttime exhibit at the Wonder World Zoo. The street lights outside flickered on to illuminate the streets. Squee and Rose were standing at about the midpoint of the line. Squee could barely contain his excitement. He had never been to the zoo before. He jumped up and down joyfully. Rose on the other hand remained patient and calmly waited in line like everyone else.

After about twenty minutes of slowly inching forward, they finally made it to the ticket booth entrance. Rose handed the man behind the counter two prepaid tickets with little raccoons printed on them. The portly man didn't look too happy in his fuzzy monkey hat, but as long as he brought home a salary, he could care less. He lifted the automatic gate to let them pass into the zoo.

"So, Squee, what's your favorite nocturnal animal?" Rose asked him as she took his little hand.

His face became confused. He questioned, "What's Notkurnal?"

She smiled a bit as she answered his question, "Nocturnal is when you sleep during the daytime and are awake at night."

"Oohhh," Squee understood, then began again, "Johnny is like that, only he's awake all the time."

Rose looked at him with a funny look as they proceeded to the aquarium, "He doesn't sleep at all? That isn't very healthy now is it?"

Hours later, Rose and Squee emerged from the Zoo entrance. Squee now decked in a Wonder World Zoo T-shirt and a fuzzy panda hat. He was busying finishing a Blue Raspberry Endangered Slushy. His heart was full of content and his eyes full of sleep. Rose looked at her little silver watch. It was almost eleven o' clock. She had to get Squee home.

It was a good thing that Squee's house was so close to town or else they would have had to walk so much longer. The little boy was constantly rubbing his eyes and was definitely ready for some sleep. They cut through the untended lawn towards the house. It was completely dark on the inside.

"Hmmm, perhaps your mom and dad already went to sleep." Rose wondered as they approached the burgundy red chipping door. She slowly turned the doorknob, only to find it would not. It's locked.

"Squee?" Rose asked, "Is there an outdoor house key you might know of, because your parents didn't give me one."

To her horror, Squee shook his head. But he thought it would be a good idea to ring the doorbell. His little finger pushed on the tiny white, lit-up button. They heard the ring within the house, but no answer. As if there was nobody in the house anyways.

"Are your parents heavy sleepers?" Rose questioned. This was beginning to worry her a bit.

Squee looked up at his parent's dark bedroom window, "Well, mommy can sleep through a tornado, but daddy always stays up late. Always."

Rose thought for a moment. Both of them remained silent.

_ What kind of parents are these? They never let me in the house. They don't even care about their son. I don't even know if he's allergic to the clothes on his back! Well there is only one thing I can think of to do._

Rose sighed, "Well, Squee, It looks like we're staying at my house tonight."

A dark figure strolled mysteriously down the lit sidewalk. The tails of his shirt flapped in the moments of bursting winds. He scowled secretly as he passed a gaggle of women with high heels and short skirts smoking cigarettes and breathing smoke into the air. One of them, wearing fishnets and insufficiently covering black leather clothes asked him if he wanted some company. Her breath reeking of weed and alcohol gave him more incentive to turn her down.

He passed a dead end ally on the way to his favorite little food mart, the 24/7. It seemed to be the hang out of a crowd of men wearing dark blue bandanas and white T-shirts. They were all African American, with the exception of one Hispanic looking fellow. It seemed like everyone along this sidewalk seemed to smoke. As Johnny walked by, the gang decided that they had found some new meat to roast.

"Well looky here. This skinny fag didn't say hello to us." A rough voice taunted. They were following him.

Johnny turned around. His hand was ready to plunge into his pocket for a blade. He stared them all down. Their amused faces disgusted him greatly.

"Hey, fag boy!" Johnny was pushed back forcefully by the Mexican. The five of them surrounded him. He was having trouble retrieving his blade while being shoved back and forth between these bastards.

One with a large silver necklace and baggy black jeans, who was as bald as a baby, decided this was beginning to bore him. Instead of pushing Johnny away, he curled his hand into a fist.

Bam!

Johnny took a fist to the eye. The force was immensely painful. He stumbled clumsily out of the circle, clutching his hands over where he was hit. His vision was so blurry and distorted, he couldn't see straight. All he could see was a light, getting brighter and bright with each second. Was he dying, was he going to heaven? No, that wasn't right.

Suddenly a loud, blaring car horn shouted into the streets. It was all Johnny heard. A powerful metal force crushed into his side, bringing bone-crunching pain to writhe throughout every nerve of his body. It was all he felt. And soon, blackness was all he saw.

With his last strength he uttered his final words, "I…I think I'm dead."


	3. In the Care of a Stranger

_ That sound. What is that sound? It sounds like… humming. It's so gentle and lovely. And it sounds like some sort of lullaby. _

With much effort, Johnny slowly opened his tired eyes a bit. Well, at least one of his eyes. A soft light filled his eye. He was in a strange room. It was a bedroom. The walls were black with silver picture frames places here and there, all holding exquisite paintings. The floor was reddish hardwood and covered partially in the middle by a small crème colored rug. The long curtains which smoothly draped over the windows to block the light were as black as the walls with white and silver designs embroidered into them. The bed he laid upon was soft and comfortable like a cloud. The matching satin blankets and pillows were quite fancy as well.

Then Johnny heard it again, the humming sound. It was coming from the next room. The door was open and the dim light was shining it. If he stood sit up just enough, which hurt quite a bit, Johnny could see that it was the living room. Such a warm and yet artist setting it was. The floors were always the same hardwood, but the walls were white. There were intricate paintings hung on them with modern black frames. The light showing through crimson lampshades lit the room a soft warm red.

There was a tall, lean figure standing over the couch. It appeared to be tucking a small child in on the couch. When it moved, Johnny could see that it was Squee on the couch and his babysitter, what's her name, Rose, placing his blankets comfortably over him. He was fast asleep with a little smile on his face. Rose was smiling too as she hummed that lullaby. She looks so much like a mother caring for her son. Johnny couldn't help but envy Squee a bit. He received so much tender care from her and nobody even notices him, let alone offers to help his life out in anyway.

Her humming was smoothly flowing into audible words…

Akaku nijimu taiyou wa subete o

terashite kita ima mo mukashi mo

kono yuuyami ni egaiteru souzou wa

hatashite kono te ni oenai mono na no ka?

Motto ima ijou ni hadaka ni natte

ikite yuku jutsu oshiete yo

honno sukoshi dake watashi o yogoshite

sou yatte hitori kizutsuitari

mawari o nakushita to shite mo

shinjitsu no uta wa kono mune ni nagare…

It was complete gibberish to Johnny, and yet it was so beautiful. Words he couldn't even understand were almost carrying him back to dreamland. And Rose's soothing voice only made sleep seem even more inviting.

She leaned in and gave Squee a gentle kiss on the forehead as he floated into pleasant dreams. For once in his life, Johnny saw Squee truly happy. Whenever he was around his parents or all alone, he always seemed shy or timid. But now he was content with life as it was. His life with Rose as his guardian.

Johnny watched the two without thought, only emotion. But when Rose turned around to check up on him, Johnny decided it was a good time to pretend to be asleep. Laying down that quickly was not too bright of an idea. A bolt of pain stabbed him sharply in the side.

"Ahh! Damn that hurts!" Johnny swore loudly. He clutched his mouth when he realized just how loud he was.

Rose jumped when she heard a loud voice shout from the guest bedroom where Johnny was resting. No doubt he had finally awoken. She rushed into the room. Once she opened the door all the way, Rose saw Johnny wide awake with his right eye twitching creepily, his teeth bared and gritted maniacally, and clutching his injured ribs. The scene was both funny and rather scary to watch.

"How are you feeling?" she slowly approached his bed. Even though he was wounded and she had confiscated all the blades and weapons he carried, Johnny still seemed very dangerous to her.

His huge eyes jerked towards the silhouette standing in the doorway. Rose was slowly moving towards him.

_ It seems as though she is somewhat afraid of me. Well, either that, or she is just being cautious. After all, I'm sure that little Squee has probably told her all about my little habit._

"If you overlook the STABBING PAIN IN MY RIBS then I'm just fine," Johnny exaggerated with a slight scowl.

Rose jumped a bit when his voice erupted for a few words. But she had to learn that Johnny was a very strange person through Squee's little tales about his neighbor.

"Um, Johnny, you've been asleep for two weeks." Rose spoke softly, her voice slightly stuttered.

His eyes shot open, "Two weeks! How is that possible! I remember yesterday when that gang of scumbags tried to beat me up and shoved me in front of a moving car!"

Rose had to explain with great difficulty about how she and Squee had found him…

Squee clutched Rose's hand tightly. Even though he was happy that he was going to spend the night at her house, this side of town still gave him the jitters. There were ominous looking people all over the place, especially in the shadows of unlit allies. The stores and shops lining the street were randomly dropping out of the remaining lit. The fuzzy glow of the orange street lamps only lit the sidewalk, the street, and the facades of the buildings lining the road.

Something further up along the sidewalk caught Rose's eye. It looked like a skinny black dog curled up on the sidewalk. It was there that she realized that there was a pool of blood around it.

"Oh my Gosh!" Rose clasped her hand to her mouth and began running, dragging little Squee with her. As they neared it, the thing appeared to be scrawny, wore dark clothes and boots, and was as pale as a ghost. It was obvious that this creature laying half dead on the side walk was Johnny C.

The unpleasant smell of the hospital taunted at Rose's sense of smell. How the smell of latex and ether bothered her. Squee was nonchalant to the scourge in his nap. It was almost three o' clock in the morning. The blandness of the waiting room was beginning to make her rather sleepy as well. But the constant noise in the white tiled hallways kept her awake. The dust blue carpet where Squee was curled up with his teddy bear was littered with paper, worn down crayons, and drawings he did to pass the time, including a "Get Well" card for Johnny, if he lived.

A lady in a white doctor's shroud came into the waiting room with a clip board. She adjusted her spectacles before reading the clipboard, "Rose Briarfeld?"

Rose attention was caught at the sound of her name. As quietly as she could, not to wake Squee, she rose from her seat and approached the woman. It must be about Johnny.

"Yes?" she asked, almost in a whisper.

The woman looked to her over the brim of her spectacles, "We see that you, nor the boy, are family of the patient. Do you know of any relatives John Colt may have?"

Rose shook her head, "No. I don't know any. And I don't think he knows his family either."

She nodded her head in the sleeping Squee's direction. He had rolled over once and faced away from them. Now, three of his drawings were crumpled under his body.

"I see." The woman said blankly, "Well, the doctors informed me that he has four broken ribs, a broken hip, an open fracture to the right shin, and severe bleeding. He will recover quickly, but he will be spending a lot of time in bed."

Rose clenched her hands together nervously. Johnny's condition was much worse than they had thought. He had to have been hit by a car. There was no other way all that could have happened to him in any other way. Besides, he was next to the road.

The nurse continued, "Now, we looked into his files and he see that the patient has no health insurance, life insurance, credit card, or bank account. As far as we are concerned, John Colt is probably unable to pay for treatment."

Rose jumped right on it, "I'll pay. I'll do anything it takes to get the money. He needs this operation."

The nurse sighed, "The bill will be very expensive. You're only nineteen. A critical condition treatment costs thousands of dollars."

The girl's face became pale and fell. She knew she couldn't pay for it. She knew Johnny couldn't pay for it. What in the lord's name was she going to do?

"But," the woman began again, "We have a special offer for financially incapable patients like Mr. Colt. This is a new plan we are trying here. The patient is treated, but is then transported back to their estate. Once a day, an attendant nurse will check up on the patient. Without cost for a room and supplements, the bill is lowered. All equipment is donated to the hospital and has a deposit."

The decision didn't even take a second thought. Rose already blurted out her answer, "We'll do it."

It all seemed to clear up a bit for Johnny. He looked up to Rose. Her face looked anxious for some form of understanding from him. She had been will to pay all his medical bills for him and probably not even ask for anything in return.

He sighed, "I see."

Rose's face softened up a bit with relief. That smile of hers was relaxing to the eyes. Johnny wished she wouldn't do that. That look she has made his chest swell a bit. But, it didn't feel bad at all. Almost like that feeling when you're being cared for. She quickly fluffed Johnny's pillows before having him slowly lean back.

"Goodnight, Johnny." then she turned around for the door.

"Rose?" Johnny called out before the door was closed.

She faced him, "Yes?"

Johnny wanted to show her some form of gratitude for all she had done. But 'Thank you' just wasn't a word ready on his lips, "Uh, um…I uh…that song you were singing earlier. What language was that?"

Her rosy lips curved into a soft smile, knowing what he meant, "Japanese."

She closed the door behind her. Johnny listened with pricked ears until her footsteps disappeared. The weight of his eyelids calmly overtook him and drifted to sleep.


	4. Getting Used to Life

Disclaimer: I do not own Johnny or Squee, plain and simple.

A delicious scent suddenly wondered by Johnny's nose. He deeply inhaled the air to breathe in more of the smell. It smelt like breakfast. But what it really did besides allure his hunger, was cause his stomach to let out a long low growl. It had been a while since he had eaten. Then, there was a soft knock on his door.

It was Rose's gentle voice on the other side, "Johnny? Are you awake?"

He mustered up a response, "Yes, I'm up."

Rose continued, "Your hospital attendant has arrived. I'll send her in."

The door slowly opened and a middle-aged woman wearing a light blue doctor's apron bustled into the room. Her heavy leather clogs were quite loud as they stomped across the hardwood floor. Her first action was to abruptly pull apart the curtains that blocked out the blinding morning light. Johnny recoiled to the intense whiteness that stung his eyes.

Her loud, prim, and prompt voice spoke, "Now, that's better. Everyone needs a little sunshine now and then."

Johnny's response was an irritated grumble and pulling the blanket over his head. And to think that this noisy woman has been in here everyday since he arrived two weeks ago. Thank goodness he was asleep.

"Alright then," she tugged the blankets away from Johnny, "Sit up straight. I need to listen to your breathing and take your blood pressure. From there I'll check your ribs."

Johnny reluctantly sat up in bed. It was rather difficult moving his right leg out from under the covers. It was there he saw that his shin was completely wrapped up and had a splint to secure it. Not to mention it was painful beyond belief! As he settled into an upright position, his ribs ached him so. The nurse simply pressed the cold metal disc of her stethoscope against the pale skin of his back. Without a word, she just jotted something down on her red plastic clipboard. Then she moved onto wrapping a thick blue band around his scrawny bicep to take his blood pressure. His teeth gritted a bit when the swelling instrument started cutting off the circulation in his arm. But the nurse merely watched the pressure gauge and kept writing on that clipboard. After that, she stretched on some latex gloves and felt his ribs, which felt like a bee sting which each poke. Oh, if only he had a knife on him. An image of this woman's guts all over the floor seemed very appealing to his mind right now.

Her pomp voice interrupted his daydream, "Alright. Everything looks to be in order. I'll just have the doctors look at this and you'll be on the road to a quick recovery."

She gave a very squished smile before leaving the room, which he was most eager she would do. Johnny could only be glad that that was over with. No all he wanted was what's being made in the kitchen.

Rose called out from the kitchen-half of the room, "Johnny, do you want doughnuts for breakfasts?"

His growling stomach and intrigued hunger shouted in unison, "Doughnuts! Doughnuts, doughnuts, doughnuts! DOOUUGGHHNUUTTSS!"

Rose laughed a bit, "I'll take that as a yes."

A minute later, she entered the room with a tray. Today she wore a dark blue denim skirt, thin black socks that came all the way up to the middle of her thighs, and a small black t-shirt with a picture of Wonder Woman on the front. Her hair this morning was simply pulled back into a loose ponytail. Her face looked different without that touch of eye shadow and shimmering lip gloss. If you looked hard enough, you could see that she had extremely light freckles on the height of her cheeks. She was still quite pretty though.

"One of my personal favorites," Rose said as she carefully placed the tray of five warm steaming doughnuts, a plate of toast, grapes, and a glass of red juice, "Dig in."

Johnny took a big bite of one of the glazed pastries as she walked away. He froze.

"These taste extremely familiar," Johnny pointed out with a mouthful of doughnut.

Rose turned a bit pink, "Yes, I bought them from the 24/7. I..um..I, uh, don't cook…very well."

Johnny looked at the toast cautiously. Rose caught this, "But don't worry. The toast is fine. It won't send you back to the hospital."

She walked back into the living room where Squee was munching on chocolate doughnuts with rainbow sprinkles while mindlessly punching at the buttons of a game controller to the play station. His face fell as the screen read GAME OVER in giant red letters.

Johnny took a sip of the juice. His eyes widened to the taste of Watermelon Cherry Chill Slurpy. (Think of Kool Aid). Johnny decided that he might like it here.

The Maiden of Light: I know this chapter wasn't very exciting. But I needed it to kick off Johnny's time living at Rose's. Please don't hurt me! By the way, I am slightly creeped out by loud, prim, and proper nurses. They scare me! Until I update,bye bye!


	5. A Rose before it Blooms

Disclaimer: I do not own anything belonging to Jhonen Vasquez, which includes Johnny and Squee.

Life in the care of Rose wasn't really as bad as Johnny would have thought it would be. With the exception of having to see that annoying nurse every other day, things were actually pretty good. Johnny's usual menu of anything from a can or box didn't change much. He got to see Squee more often than when he spent all his time in his house. Day by day, his leg and ribs healed. The doctors, after all, said he was a quick healer. Rose was nice enough to move the Play Station into his room so he wouldn't be bored all day.

She also made sure that he received his daily dose of literature, which surprisingly, he didn't revolt to. She would sit in the leather chair across the room and read him chapters of The Odyssey or Romeo and Juliet. There were times where Rose would have her canvas set up in Johnny's room, and he would read to her while she painted. He would always secretly look up for a moment just to sneak a glance of how far she progressed while he wasn't watching. Her latest piece intrigued him quite a bit. It was of a dark, mysterious cloaked man helping a beautiful, angelic woman with crumpled fairy wings back onto her feet.

Squee would visit every day. It was a good thing that Rose babysat him everyday because of how little she was paid. Now that she was taking care of Squee _and_ Johnny, she couldn't leave her house as often. Squee's trips to the park were shortened now, but it didn't matter to him. He still found plenty joy in playing video games against Johnny (and winning), watching movies, helping Rose clean the house, tending to the little pots of flowers out on the balcony overlooking the crummy city streets, learning how to paint, or listening to her childhood stories. Today's project was cleaning Rose's room, after putting it off so long from being busy.

The white carpet couldn't be seen under the rug of discarded clothes. Dust was building up on all the flat surfaces. The silk bed sheets were shoved rudely off the bed and pillows lay jumbled on the floor. The black walls were hung with large photos of family or friends and paintings framed in silver. They began by picking up clothes off the floor and neatly folding them into piles of shirts, pants, and skirts. Underneath a cerulean blue t shirt, Squee discovered a photograph of two women in a pink frame. One of them was Rose in a midnight blue dress. The other girl was an Asian looking young lady with a pink kimono printed with silver roses and a sparkling tiara perched on her head.

"Hey Rosie?" Squee held up the picture, "Who's that?"

Rose identified the picture, holding the jeans she was folding, "Oh, that's me and my friend, Yoko. This picture was taken at our junior prom, where she became prom queen."

"Ohhh," Squee's bright eyes took in the whole picture, "Why weren't you prom queen. You're the prettiest person I know."

Rose smiled lightly to the compliment, "Well, in school, not a lot of people liked me that much."

Squee wondered, "Why?"

"Well, I wasn't one of the coolest girls in school. A lot of people made fun of me because I was a goody two shoes. They thought it was stupid that I stuck up for people who couldn't defend themselves or helped people out. I just wanted to be a nice person." She answered.

Rose's retrospective of the past only reopened old wounds. Being bullied in school just for being kind can hurt a person for a while. Like a jeering ghost that won't leave you alone. Her battle scars were too numerous to count. From the last she left that school, every day, good or bad, has been a blessing. One that makes you feel like the luckiest person on the face of the earth.

Rose's room was finally cleaned. All the clothing was organized into the red maple dressers or neatly hung in the closet. Paintings and pictures were dusted and became more vivid. Somewhere, Squee had found a figurine of Happy Noodle Boy constructed of a white golf ball-sized Styrofoam ball and black pipe cleaners. It was placed amongst the cherished possessions on the bedside night table. Rose remembered the day Yoko gave it to her…

_ Rose sat in crestfallen sadness in the front seat of the white Convertible car, a fleece blanket wrapped around her. Tears streaked down her reddened cheeks of embarrassment. She looked at her beautiful midnight blue dress. The delicate beading and flowing silk made it so lovely and breathtaking. Now it is a torn piece of cloth with beads. Of all the terrible things her classmates have done to her, this was the worse. They had planned their joke. They purposely ripped her dress then, and torn it off later. The act was so cruel, and the feeling so mortifying. _

_ The driver side door opened. It was her prom queen friend, Yoko, the image of perfection with a tiara. She slid into the car and shut the door. A few seconds of silence seemed almost eternal._

"_Rose," Yoko began, almost beginning to cry, "I am so, so sorry about what they did to you. I can't believe they would do such a horrible thing."_

_ Rose wiped away a few of her own tears, "Well, at least I'll have an excuse for my mom to transfer me to Navy Creek. I doubt anyone knows me at that school."_

_ They both tried to put on a smile. Yoko carefully lifted the glittery crown off her head._

"_Rose, of all the people I know, you deserve this crown the most." She delicately placed the tiara on Rose's head, a true smile finally emerging from both of them._

"_Oh, I also made you something," Yoko retrieved something from the back seat. She returned with a bobbily little homemade Happy Noodle Boy, "Since you weren't able to actually get a date for prom, I made you one."_

_ Rose and Yoko cracked up into laughter. Even the darkest holes we fall into can be lit by the love of a friend._

Squee listened in disbelief that people could ever be so cruel to someone as kind as Rose. But she had learned to overcome her inner casualties, the slow death of her spirit. But time and love is a healer. With the love of Yoko and Squee, the scars close up little by little.

Meanwhile, in the next room, Johnny could hear every word and unshed tear through the heating vent.

He spoke to himself, "Rose..."

The Maiden of Light: Well, there you go. You now know the painful past of our little good Samaritan. It seems that Johnny has enough of a heart in him that he feels the pain too. Alright, review time! Chapter 6 coming soon.


	6. The Noodle Awards

The Noodle Awards

This has nothing to do with the story. I would just like to thank my readers at this point in the story. I don't receive so many reviews and stuff, so I wish to so my appreciation to those to do.

The Review Noodles are awarded to:

darkXdemon15

xTainted Angelx

Terra

Kenny's Lil Lover

The Anxious Reader Noodles are awarded to:

doomncandy

Sapphire Dragon Trainer

The shadowless One

xTainted Angelx

And the Favorite Noodles are awarded to:

Sapphire Dragon Trainer

The shadowless One

Thank you all for reading my work. I've been slowly going insane in the process so I need more candy. In a few more chapters, I will hand out the Buzz Saw Awards. Until then, bye bye! On with the story!


	7. Unknown Emotions

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Johnny the Homicidal Maniac books

The weeks went by. Summer was passing quicker than most had thought. The days of heat were dying away slowly as the green in the trees calmly faded into yellows and reds. But those living in the city were still celebrating to the fullest their time off of school and work. Johnny's progress, however, had surpassed everyone's expectations, especially the doctors. Now only had his ribs and leg healed much quicker than they planned. He was already walking again. A bit clumsy, but Johnny seemed to be doing his own therapy just by walking around the apartment. Rose and Squee couldn't have been more pleased. Speaking of Squee, he was not under the care of Rose today, but instead invited to a birthday party. Today's morning was quite eventful.

A tall girl with yellowish tan skin and straight black hair in pigtails trotted up the stairs. Her tall black knee high boots pounded loudly on the floor. She wore a bright pink pleated skirt with a thick black belt heavy with silver notches. The white tank top under the black leather jacket had a sassy pink cat that read 'Kitty Kat'. Her thin almond eyes were heavily lined and shadowed. She knocked on the door of Rose's apartment on the third level.

Four sharp knocks sounded at the door. The only one who heard these was Johnny, as he stumbled across the living room. With much difficulty his good and bad leg slouched towards the door. He found that knocking was a young lady about Rose's age. She appeared to be from Japan or some Asian country.

"Uh…hi. Is Rose home?" she asked.

Right on cue, Rose walks by with a basket full of dark colored laundry. She sees her friend standing outside the door, perhaps a little frightened by Johnny.

"Oh, Hello Yoko," Rose greeted her and motioned with her hand to step inside.

Yoko looked at Johnny one more time with a sense of slight displeasure in his presence. He looked as though he needed to prop himself on the door to stay afoot. Without hesitation, she snagged Rose by the arm and dragged her roughly into her room, quickly shutting the door behind them.

Yoko started, "Who is he? I thought you of all people would have much better selection skills than that!"

Rose blushed fiercely and retorted, "He's not my boyfriend! I'm just taking care of him!"

Yoko sighed heavily, "Woo, that's a relief. I thought you were dating the king of the vampires! But why are you taking care of him?"

Rose answered, looking to her shoes, "Neither of us could afford to pay for his treatment. So he has to stay here until he is well enough to take care of himself. But anyways, why are here?"

Yoko grabbed her friend's shoulders and bounced a bit in excitement, "Rose, you know that awesome new dance club that is opening tonight…"

Rose nodded, "Yes. The premiere is invitation only."

"I got invited!" she squealed, "And I'm taking you with me!"

The two girls embraced each other in a giddy hug. They both jumped and laughed. Anyone who was a Someone was going to this premiere. And Rose never passed up the opportunity to show the world her dancing. Then, reality hit her like a freight train.

Rose froze, a hint of panic in her tone, "Wait, what about Johnny?"

Yoko persisted, "Come on, he can take care of himself for one night."

"Perhaps your right, it's only for one night." Rose contemplated. Her mind was arguing with itself and not getting very far.

It was a good thing the door was closed, or else the two would have heard Johnny's episode of hitting the floor and taking the lamp with him. He was making progress.

"I'll talk to him," Rose compromised, "And in the case that he is well enough to take care of himself for one evening, then I'll go."

"Yes!" Yoko hissed as she clenched her hands into fists of victory, "Grab your purse in three hours. We're gettin' dresses."

Rose sat in the corner of Johnny's room, stroking paint smoothly onto the unfinished painting. Johnny meanwhile, was reading to her sonnets from a book of Shakespeare while sitting up in bed:

"Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day?  
Thou are more lovely and more temperate:  
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,  
And Summer's lease hath all too short a date:  
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,  
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;  
And every fair from fair sometime declines,  
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd:  
But thy eternal Summer shall not fade  
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;  
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,  
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:  
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,  
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee."

Rose listened quietly as Johnny read aloud. Then broke the silence when she gently dropped her paintbrush into a tall glass mason jar with the rest. She took a deep breath.

"Johnny," she sighed, "We might need to move our rematch at Demon Crash Racers to tomorrow night."

He gave a confused look in question, "How come? It is because of something your friend Yoko said?"

Rose nodded silently, "Tonight, I'm going to the premiere opening of Club Sonic. I'm afraid that you will have to take care of yourself for one night."

Johnny raised an eyebrow. But he understood. Rose hasn't had a night off from taking care of him for weeks. Perhaps it was finally her turn to relax.

"But I do think you can do it. I know that you are able to walk around now." Rose looked into his eyes with courage.

There was a knock at the door.

Rose called out, "I'm coming!"

Johnny merely watched as she cleaned her hands from all the paint, grabbed a fuchsia leather purse from the kitchen table, and opened the door.

"I'll be back later, Johnny." Rose waved one last time before disappearing through the door and marching down the stairs.

Johnny just sat there in bed. His mind spinning in a vortex with something new. Something he's never felt before.

_For a long, long time, I have been striving myself to become stoic. To have no emotions beneath my flesh. I wished to be as cold as the bodies of my victims. Because I always believed that my emotions were just something that tied me to this world of insolent and disgusting people. But for some reason, I don't want that anymore. How is it that the will has just vanished? _

_I think it is because of Rose. When I first saw her, I thought of her as someone who only wants to make an easy buck by watching someone's kid. Then slowly I have come to see that she is really kind and loving. But truly, she is a creature who deserves to be intangible to the scum of this earth, to be respected and admired by her fellow man. Rose deserves so much more than she is given. _

_But what was that emotion I felt when she said where she was going. I have no hatred for dance clubs, only the people in them. But even so, if she goes, then maybe might find some guy she thinks is special. Doesn't she know? They could hurt her. Men are grotesque mounds of slime that try so hard to shadow their flaws by impressing people with the most disgraceful of things. Those swine! Wait a moment, I'm being…defensive. Could it be that I'm, I'm…jealous? Look what you did to me Rose!_

"Rose?" Yoko snuck up behind her and gave her a little startle, "What are you looking in here for? All the dresses are at Fab Grab."

Rose took in a deep breath to recover, "I just wanted to get something for Johnny. I kind of feel bad that I'm leaving him all by himself tonight."

Yoko rolled her heavily made up eyes, "Well, hurry up! This freak store is a real reputation breaker."

She walked out and waited outside the store. Rose was feeling a bit awkward herself. A lot of people in the store were staring at her. It was probably because she didn't fit in. Everyone in the store had piercings or strangely colored hair, and everyone was wearing black. Rose took her bad up to the check out counter.

The girl behind the register had short blue hair in pigtails. She wore enough dark eyeliner for three people and her lips were painted black. Her black t-shirt had large white letters reading 'I'm a freak, bite me!'

She chewed her gum loudly as she spoke, "That all you want?"

Rose replied quietly, "Yes, that's all."

She hurried back after paying to rejoin her friend outside, carrying a Darkside Shop bag in her lift grip.

Meanwhile, Johnny was pacing back and forth across the house. In fact, all over the house. Nervous he was not, but practicing he was.

Yoko came out from behind the curtain to her dressing room, dressed in a bubblegum pink cocktail dress with reserves of shimmer here and there.

"Tada!" she cried out as she presented to the world her new dress.

Rose complimented, "It looks great on you. But what is it was you and pink?"

Yoko retorted with a smile, "And what's with you and always hesitating to show me what dress you have on?"

It was true. It actually took some coaxing for Rose to come out of a dressing room with something fancy on. In this case, a lovely short angel white dress with two outer layers of wavy Toole that flowed to her knees and were cut in diagonals. The back laced up and tied into a small bow on the bottom. It fit nicely to her petite shape but that still didn't make her feel comfortable yet. She always needed Yoko to say something to make her see that it really was beautiful.

After a few hours, Rose walked back into her home with a few shopping bags. She found that Johnny was sitting at the kitchen table with a notebook of drawing paper and scribbling madly a comic of a strange stick figure. He didn't even notice Rose walk into the room.

She spoke softly, afraid to shatter his concentration, "Uh, Johnny?"

His head suddenly shot up with wide eyes, "Yes?"

Rose set down all her bags on the floor except one, the one from the Darkside store. She placed it on the table next to him, "Since, you're pretty much all well again, you're probably ready to go home. And while I was at the mall, I thought I should get you a gift."

She picked up all her shopping bags off the floor and headed towards her room.

Johnny couldn't help but wonder why she was so quiet, "Rose?"

She turned to him before she entered her bedroom, "Yes?"

He was slightly lost for words. For once Johnny couldn't think of something to say. But eventually something came out, "I…uh, thanks."

Rose gave him her classic sweet smile before disappearing into her bedroom. Johnny looked at the bag beside him. Never before had someone given him a gift like this. He slowly opened the bag and reached inside. Out he pulled a long black coat made of leather. His eyes magnified to the amazing present. As quickly as he could, he slipped it onto his shoulders and slid his skinny arms through the sleeves. The coat fell all the way to the back of his knees. It fit him perfectly, not to mention it looked great with the shirt he had on, which said 'You're just jealous because the voices talk to me!' He shoved his hands into the pockets. They were deep enough to fit every knife and dagger he owned into them without anyone noticing. Rose had to have paid a lot for this coat.

"Rose," Johnny sigh sadly.

Rose, meanwhile, was idly staring at the painting she had finally completed. The dark man in the hooded cloak was helping the fallen angelic woman. It was beautiful. But it was there where she had realized something she never meant to do. The woman had her face, and the man had Johnny's.

The Maiden of Light: Now we're getting somewhere. It seems like Rose's love and care has finally warmed Johnny's stoic heart. Bring me reviews!


	8. Swing the Night Away

Disclaimer: Do I even need to say it?

Rose was putting the finishing touches on her hair with a large silvery butterfly clip of rhinestones. She took in a deep breath and prayed that she looked nice. After years of being taunted, the outer image is something to worry about constantly.

Johnny's voice emerged from the living room, "Rose, Yoko is here."

This was it. She hesitantly opened the door and let the two see her. It slowly creaked open. Yoko looked perfect, as usual, in her pink dress and playful pigtail buns. She was smiling. Johnny, however, had his mouth hanging open in disbelief. He was completely astounded at how beautiful this girl who has been caring for him for weeks could actually be. Perhaps his staring was what caused her to blush so profusely. Her cheeks were turning rather red and she looked away.

"You look awesome, Rose," Yoko said as she hugged her friend.

Rose hugged her tightly back with a brilliant smile, "Second to you."

Johnny just watched nonchalantly. The two girls finally separated. He couldn't help but take in Rose's beautiful figure. That dark dress fit her perfectly and she actually looked happy in it. Her lips were glossed in a moderate shimmer of pink peach. And her eyes sparkled with such endlessness as they were thinly lined in a soft black and shadowed in fading Aztec grey. The black not-so-high heels she wore were neatly strapped and laced around her legs to the middle of her shin and clicked lightly was she walked across the floor. She truly was an image of perfection.

Yoko looked at the clock hanging on the wall. It read a few minutes past eight o'clock.

"We gotta get goin, Rose," she said eagerly, "We'll see you later, Johnny."

He nodded silently, his arm crossed and a serious expression on his face. His face looked so dark and unreadable, like a statue of onyx. They turned and followed through the door. But Rose stopped and gave Johnny one last look. A look that apologized and prayed. It was enough to soften anyone's heart. The door closed behind her, and Johnny was left all to himself in the apartment. Even the growing and fading siren blare of a passing fire truck was only considered silence within the living space to his ears. His eyes fell to the brand new black coat from earlier lying on the couch. Johnny grabbed it and quickly slipped it on. As fast as he could, he slid his feet into his boots and pulled them tightly up to his knees. Before he left the apartment, he grabbed his collection of blades, which he found in the laundry room, and shut off the lights. He disappeared down the stairs, out of the building, and into the darkness of the night.

Club Sonic was packed full. The excitement in the air was practically electric. Lights of blues, pinks, reds, violets, and greens were blazing, flashing, and strobing. The pounding music was pumping in the air as everyone jumped and danced to it. Laughter and the murmur of talking voices rained below the thunder of the music blasting from the stereos. The lightened and darkened silhouettes of guests danced on the neon lit floor. Several others were gathering around the bar, most of the men were busy flirting with the curly-haired blonde behind the counter pouring the drinks. More and more people dressed in flashy and trendy clothes filed into the club. The stocky security guard in the blue suit at the front entrance was being awfully strict about whose invitations looked real and fake.

Yoko was already making friends. A crowd of college boys were gathered around her on the dance floor. Rose didn't seem to like them that much. They definitely had filthy minds underneath their exterior. Yoko could handle herself well. Where there were several rings of lounging chairs all around the dance floor, she found an empty seat of one and sat there quietly. Her gaze kept fallen to her hands. Her friend seemed happy and alive out there on the dance floor, but Rose wanted to be out there too. She felt the need to show people she could dance as well as Yoko. But she was also afraid she would embarrass herself. Rose thought she would rejoin Yoko once the boys clear away.

A gentle thin hand gloved in black extended towards Rose, a familiar voice following it, "Would you care to dance, miss?

Rose looked up. A sharp gasp escaped her lips. Pale skin, dark sunken eyes, narrow black boots, and a brand new long black coat, it was Johnny.

"Johnny!" Rose stared at him in disbelief, "Why are you here."

He gave a slanted smile as he delicately took Rose's hand and brought her to her feet, "I thought you would be alone. And I think I was right."

Rose was completely awestruck that he was here, and for her. Johnny guided her onto the dance floor. Somewhere in the room, someone was screaming something about the security guard having his severed arms shoved down his throat. Johnny started smirking. They were on the center of the glowing floor. The hip hop song playing slowly faded into end and a different type of music began playing. The music had an upbeat swing sound to it. The melody of 'Sing, Sing, Sing' (for any of you who remember that swing song from the old Chips Ahoy commercials) started up. Several people began clearing off the floor.

Johnny raised their hands slowly before speaking, "Ready to swing?"

Rose's eyes lit up with excitement. It was then that she realized that she and Johnny were the only ones left on the floor. Everyone else seemed to be watching them, wondering why they remained. She began moving to the quick beat of the tempo drums. Johnny started by twirling Rose around. She took his other hand and her feet jumped into a quickstep, which Johnny mimicked. With hands linked, they both spun around. Their swing dance began to capture the attention of the guest standing off to the side. Some people even began to cheer when Rose performed a perfect yoyo by wrapping her and Johnny's linked arms around her and slinging back out into a quick twirl. Yoko was laughing madly with excitement that for once, Rose was the center of attention, and looked good in it. The song beat on.

Johnny pulled her close and whispered in her ear, "Close your eyes, but dance with me."

Rose didn't understand what he meant, but her eyes slowly closed, leaving her in complete nervousness. Johnny spun her blindly around one more time. Rose waited in anticipation for what he was up to. In one single smooth motion, Johnny scooped her up into his arms and tossed her into the air. Rose felt all gravity leave her. The unknown beyond her closed eyes whirled around her as she rolled in the air. In a graceful end, Johnny softly caught her as she returned into his arms. Rose opened her eyes, only to see Johnny's deep eyes staring back. He had her dipped down only feet from the floor, with only his arms to suspend her above embarrassment. The music stopped, with their finishing move.

The whole club erupted with applause. Johnny pulled Rose gently back on her feet. She was as blushed as her name. People began filing back onto the floor, several of them complimenting Rose and Johnny on their performance.

"I have never seen anyone dance like that!"

"That was so awesome!"

Damn, she's hot!"

The DJ slid another record on the turntable. The bright flashing lights dimmed down into softer slower flashes. A slow song flowed smoothly throughout the room. Only a few people left the floor as everyone else paired up. Yoko rocked slowly back and forth with a boy with a red and black racing jacket.

"Will you honor me with this dance?" Johnny bowed before Rose and held out his hand.

Rose smiled and took his hands. Carefully he placed his own around her slim waist as she slightly wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

_I could stay awake just to hear you breathing,  
Watch you smile while you are sleeping,  
While you are far away and dreaming,  
I could spend my life in this sweet surrender,  
I could stay lost in this moment forever,  
Where a moment spent with you is a moment I treasure…_

Rose whispered into Johnny's ear softly, "Thank you for coming, Johnny."

_I don't want to close my eyes, I don't want to fall asleep,  
Cause I miss you baby, And I don't want to miss a thing,  
Cause even when I dream of you, the sweetest dream will never do,  
I still miss you baby and I don't want to miss a thing…_

He held her close and replied, "After all you've done for me, I owe you everything. Listen Rose, I've been thinking about that painting you've been working on for a while now. It's a vision of how you feel. In real life, you have been helping me. But somewhere within you, you feel that you're the one being lifted back onto her feet."

Rose looked down, "Yes. It is backwards, but true. Your being in my company has been a whole new experience for me. One that I needed, but never knew I did until I felt healed."

_Lying close to you feeling your heart beating,  
And I wondering what you are dreaming,  
Wondering if it's me you are seeing,  
Then I kiss your eyes and thank god we're together,  
I just want to stay with you in this moment forever and forever, forever…_

Rose rested her head on his shoulder, and listened to his heart. Johnny just watched her. She looked so beautiful when she was happy. Of course she always looked happy, but now he knew she truly was inside and out. Their rhythm of motion felt more like the unison beating of their hearts.

_And I don't want to miss one smile,  
I don't want to miss one kiss,  
I just want to be with you right here with you,  
Just like this, I just want to hold you close,  
I feel your heart so close to mine  
And just stay here in this moment,  
For all of the rest of time…_

The song faded away. Johnny looked down into Rose's eyes. He never noticed them that much before. They always looked plain and brown. He saw that they were deep and rich chocolate colored, and one was slightly darker than the other. Rose stared back and smiled. Johnny may not have known it or not, but he starting to hold Rose tighter, and he was slowly getting closer.

Yoko sprang up beside them and shouted, "Hey, guys!"

Rose and Johnny jumped, practically giving Johnny a heart attack. He was just lucky no one saw the crimson coated dagger almost fly out of his pocket.

Rose heart beat slowly returned to normal, "Hi Yoko, are you having fun?"

Yoko started up, "I'm having a blast. I saw you two doing that…um… weird dancing and almost started screaming. That was awesome!"

Rose turned slightly red. Yoko started talking again, "I met this guy, Branson, and he is so hot! I can't believe I got to dance with him!"

Rose had to interrupt her, "Um, that's great Yoko. Aren't you a little tired? We've been here for a while now."

"Actually," Yoko put on a thinking face, "I am a little worn out. We can leave as soon as I say bye to Branson and Derrick."

Rose raised an eyebrow, "Whose Derrick?"

Yoko looked a little guilty, "I can't decide between Branson and Derrick. They're both so cute. And Derrick already gave me his number."

Johnny and Rose looked at each other with the same look that said 'she has it coming for her.' Eventually, they left Club Sonic at 1 in the morning.

They went their separate ways at the corner of Center St. and Lulu St. Yoko turned into her apartment building right there on the corner, but Rose and Johnny had two more blocks to walk. In may have been late in the night, but the city still didn't sleep. Johnny and Rose were occasionally blinded by passing headlights. The sidewalk was lit by florescent street lamps above them. The air was cool and breezy.

"Rose?" Johnny asked sheepishly.

She looked to him, "Yes?"

Johnny searched for a question. He hadn't really thought about what he wanted to say, "I…um… can I stay one more night before I return home tomorrow?"

Rose smiled calmly, "Of course you can stay one more night. I'd rather you go back home in the morning rather than in the middle of the night."

Johnny held the door open for Rose as they turned into the apartment building. After three climbs of stairs they reached her apartment. Rose immediately trailed of towards her room. But she stopped.

"Johnny," his head raised to the sound of his name, "You looked very handsome in your new coat."

He looked to the hands of his long black gloves. He felt so refreshed, renewed. His whole outlook on the world had been slightly altered. All because someone had shown him love like no other person he ever encountered.

"Thank you," he nodded, "and you looked beautiful."

She smiled and closed the door behind her. Johnny stood there.

Beautiful like an angel…

The Maiden of Light: How was that? I had been in a bit of a block for a while but I finally finished it during my week of restriction. I known the song had nothing to do with the situation, but I loved that song! Read and review. Twinkies for all!


	9. Home Sweet Home

Disclaimer: Unless my plan for kidnapping Jhonen Vasquez fails, I still do not own any of his characters or paraphernalia. (Just joking!)

Rose yawned deeply and stretched her arms above her head. The morning light poured in through her open window, along with the sound of morning car traffic. She gently rolled out of bed and stretched her arms all around. But she frowned. This morning, all she could think of was how to say goodbye to Johnny. When really, her heart was screaming…

_Don't let him go. You need him. You need him!_

Rose looked off to the side, where her black dress was hung on the hook of the closet door. He said she looked beautiful. Not just in the dress, but however she was. No one other than her family and Yoko had ever told her that. Maybe Johnny really cared about her too.

Her ears pricked to a strange noise coming from the living room. It sounded as though the T.V. was on. Johnny must have already been awake. Rose quickly slipped on some clothes, just a pair of jean shorts and bright green tank top. Rose opened the door not to find Johnny, but Squee, playing a game of Piggy Doom Battles on the Playstation.

"Squee," Rose looked at him in bewilderment, "How did you get here?"

His eyes were glued to the screen as he fumbled with the controller, "Johnny brought me over."

"Johnny?" she looked around, "Speaking of which, where is Johnny?"

"He went home. But he bought you doughnuts." Squee tapped away at the buttons.

Rose looked over to the table, where a box of doughnuts from the 24/7 station sat waiting to be eaten. Atop it was a piece of lined yellow notebook paper folded in half. She picked it up and unfolded it, unveiling Johnny's just legible hand writing.

_Dear Rose,_

_I didn't want to wake you up. You look too peaceful when you're dreaming. I tried not to laugh when you snorted though. I can't thank you enough. I always believed that humans were stupid, insolent, and pathetic goblins. But because of all the time I've spent with you, I can see that there are people who aren't like that. I hope there are more people like you in the world. Take care of Squee. _

_Nny_

Rose was having a hard time holding back her tears. They were already filming over her eyes and beads rolled down her cheeks. The simple note crushed in her tightened fist. She didn't want him to leave. Her arms were shaking. Squee, whose game had long been lost, was just watching her. He approached her and gently tugged on her shirt.

"Are you okay, Rosie?" His eyes began to widen.

Rose merely crumpled to the floor, kneeling on her knees. Her long slender fingers covered her tearing eyes. Squee stood before her. He had never seen Rose cry before. Maybe he didn't understand why she did, but it really hurt him. He gently put his little stubby arms around her. If it were anyone in the world right now, Rose needed a loving embrace. Rose smiled lightly as she hugged him back.

"I'll be fine, Squee." Rose held him tightly.

_I need Johnny…_

"Have you ever fallen in love?" Johnny spoke to the man suspended on the wall.

He hung there by rusty iron shackles, his punishment for tripping Johnny. There were several throwing axes lodged in the wall around him where Johnny had missed. He twisted his neck vigorously to itch his chin on his shoulder, "Yeah, but I let her go."

Johnny looked up from his corner in the dilapidated room of bloodstains and skeletons, "Why? There must have been a good reason to separate yourself from someone you love so much."

The guy nodded his head, "She got too fat."

Johnny gave him a serious look, "What a waste of oxygen you are."

He chucked the last little ax at his useless target. Blood spurted in all directions as the man's head flew off his shoulders and landed on the floor with a 'thud'.

Johnny looked up, "What about you?"

Another man who several heavy duty staples latching him onto the ceiling gave him a look of thought, "Hmmm. Yes, I have fallen in love before."

Johnny waved his hand around in a continuous hand gesture, "What happened?"

The man closed his eyes, "I loved her with all my heart. She was kind and beautiful. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect woman. I was the happiest man ever when I found out a little girl was coming our way. But fate seemed to be my enemy the day a drunk driver crashed his truck into the side of my wife's little car. The sadness darn near killed me."

Johnny looked down to the toe of his boots, "That's kinda sad."

"Being stapled to the ceiling is nothing compared to how it felt to carry my wife's casket." He looked onto Johnny's mop of black hair.

"I see. I'm still not sure about things." Johnny stood up from the corner and marched up the stairs to the higher levels.

"I thought you'd never be back." Nail Bunny called out to Johnny across the room.

Johnny looked around. The doughboys were gone. Their Styrofoam shells had disappeared. They must have been swept away along with the hundreds of captives Johnny kept. All that remained of most of them were just remnants or random limbs. He always wondered what was behind that wall he always coated and recoated with blood. Now he sees that there is nothing back there. What ever it was, it escaped. All that is left is a broken wall and the mass of insulated support beams within it.

"What happened?" Johnny wondered aloud.

Nail Bunny answered, "The thing you spent so long imprisoning escaped from the wall. It was horrible, so many tentacles and teeth."

Johnny gazed about his disheveled house. With the exception of being completely destroyed on the inside, it was all the same.

"Home, sweet home." Johnny sighed.

It was missing something. Not the rambling of the doughboys, not the screams and howls of his victims, not the former condition of his home. He looked at the black coat hanging on the rusty nail of a wall plastered with Happy Noodle Boy comics.

_I need Rose… _

The Maiden of Light: The end of another chapter in this little love story. I know it's kinda slow, but these things take time. Just a little tip, this story is going to become a bit bigger with what is coming. Something evil escaped and Rose is going to find out first hand. Read and Review! sneaks away with a giant sack over her shoulder If selling Jhonen Vasquez on eBay doesn't make me rich, I don't know what will.


	10. A New Face Amongst the Shadows

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the character created by Jhonen Vasquez. But I now own Jhonen himself! Bwahahaha!

The Maiden of Light: Here's a little something for my crazier of readers. throws the giant sack containing Jhonen to Kenny's Lil Lover

Kenny's Lil Lover: Yeeeeaaaah! hugs Jhonen Head Explody friend!

Jhonen Vasquez: Get me outta heeeeerrrrrreeeeeee!

The Maiden of Light: On with the story!

Squee was fast asleep in the bed that was once Johnny's. Tucked tightly within the silky covers, he dreamed on. Even though he was away in dreamland, Rose continued singing her lullaby. Out on the iron rail of the balcony, she sat perched, holding onto the left pole propping up the overhang. Tears formed a water veil over her eyes. She had Squee to distract her from them until he fell asleep. But it was here that she had to face the facts. She missed Johnny being here with her. It felt almost like loosing a piece of yourself.

"It's a shame to damage such a lovely song with sobs and tears." A mysterious voice slithered by.

Rose almost let go of iron pole and tumbled over the edge. Who was that? She looked around, only to find that thin air had spoken to her. The balcony of the apartment beside hers was empty and so were the ones below.

"In case you're wondering, I'm on the roof." The voice spoke again.

She turned around and peered over the railing. Her eyes fell upon the corner of the rooftop, where a dark silhouette laid there on its side like a relaxed black cat. As a car drove by on the streets below, lights illuminated the face of her visitor. His most obvious feature was creative spiky crimson hair. His eyes were deep and sunken like he hadn't slept in years. His face was rather pale too. He wore a slim trench coat that didn't seem to hide the fact that this person was very scrawny but quite tall. Boxy shaped goggles hung loosely around his neck as they were not used. We wore a heavy necklace with a pendant shaped like a bat. He had long black gloves and tall black boots like Johnny.

"Who are you?" Rose backed away from the edge.

He gave a one-sided smile, revealing a rather sharp canine tooth. His motions were smooth and fluid as he stood up, as if he was absolutely positive that he wouldn't fall off the roof.

He gave a low bow with a twirl of his hand, "Ned, at your service milady."

"I don't believe you live here," Rose questioned, "What are you doing on this roof?"

The English accent he spoke with was charming. He spoke, his voice more like the purr of a cat than the hiss on a snake, "I couldn't help myself. I heard this lovely voice, you see, and followed it to this rooftop. I do believe that siren's song belonged to you, am I right?"

Rose replied, keeping her guard up, "Yes, I was singing."

"Could you please continue?" Ned asked with a desiring smile, "It was wonderful."

"I…uh…I need to go, uh, inside and check on something," Rose hesitated, slowly backing towards the door, but trying to look normal.

Ned suddenly leapt nimbly from the edge of the roof to the edge of her balcony, the shock making her fall back against the glass door.

He persisted, "Please, I want to hear you sing again!"

He was beginning to act like a child. A dark mysterious child that happened to be tall, skinny, creepy, and could jump really well. Rose inched her way to the door handle.

Rose begged, "Could you please leave. I would like to go to sleep."

Ned's shoulders dropped in disappointment, "Alright. I understand. I suppose it was rather rude of me to intrude upon you like this. All I wanted was a lullaby. I heard you singing it earlier and I wanted to hear it again."

She looked down, then up to Ned's saddened face. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to fill his request, "I suppose I could sing one song."

His face lit up. He smile revealed two terrifyingly sharp fang-like teeth, "Oh, thank you so much, milady."

He hopped onto the side rail and sprang out, latched onto the edge of the rooftop, and easily swung onto his feet so he was standing on the roof. He waited patiently for her.

Rose stood up and closed her eyes. Words flowed to her mouth:

_Dear falling star _

_Grant my only wish _

_To find the one I love_

_Take me to the sky_

_Fly across the heavens _

_And everything above _

_I will walk on _

_Until that day comes again_

_Where I find him waiting_

_For me to return_

The rest was humming. Rose opened her eyes. Her one-stranger audience looked relaxed their on the corner of the rooftop. He stood back on his feet.

"That was beautiful, Miss." He bowed in compliments, "I hope you sing more. I just might hear it somewhere in this plot of scum called a city."

Rose nodded her head, "Thank you, Ned."

"Well now, I must be off. I believe a snack at the 24/7 is calling me. So, farewell, milady." Without waiting for a goodbye in return, Ned simply leapt off the roof.

Rose watched in utter surprise as he grabbed hold of a street lamp overhanging the road and swung around it like a gymnast on the high bars. He released his grip and soared into the air, landing firmly on the cargo hold of a passing mail truck. Ned turned and waved to Rose one last time before his ride turned the corner and disappeared down the street. He didn't even stagger. Rose softly and silently opened and closed the door behind her. She tiptoed past Squee's room and into her own. As she crawled into bed, a single thought sat in her mind.

_What in the world was he? _

The Maiden of Light: I know, I know. It was a short chapter. But I have an excuse! A CHEERLEADER STOLE MY SPLEEN! Actually, this chapter was just the introduction to a new character in the story. Don't worry, you will find out more about Ned. Now if you excuse me, I have some limbs to amputate. Bwahahahaha!

Cheerleaders: squeal and run away


	11. Hello, Ned

Disclaimer: I do not own anything that already belongs to Jhonen Vasquez or Slave Labor Comics.

Johnny looked in the mirror. It was seven in the morning and he did not sleep well the night before. He looked rather groggy and his eyes bloodshot. A shower now and then probably wouldn't kill him.

The faucet squeaked loudly as he turned the water off. He vigorously shook his head and droplets of hard shower water from his shaggy wet hair flew everywhere. His pale skin was blotched red from the scalds he endured every time he showered. Steam poured out of the bathroom as he opened the door and ventured down the hallway. In his room, he pulled a black long sleeve shirt with coattails with fine white letters that read 'Kiss me, I'm Insane' from the very disheveled dresser drawers.

He rummaged through his refrigerator, which was more like searching through a jungle for the milk. He dealt himself a glass and slid two pieces of slightly moldy bread into the toaster. A 'thud' at his door informed him that the paper had been delivered. He retrieved the paper from his front doorstep. He scrolled through the headlines.

"Let's see," he mumbled, "Mutant baby found…two employees found dead at the 24/7, drained of blood this time…Yadda yadda yadda…Herd of eight-legged moose rampage Canada…AHA! The Funny Comics!"

His whole morning was entertained by the cheesy little comic strips in the Sunday paper. Once the papers were read, the toast was consumed, and the milk dumped down the drain for being expired, he sat there at his unsteady kitchen table. He listened carefully to the silence of his house. There were no voices of the objects in his mind to persuade him, no noises of people awaiting their death in his basements, nothing. But the sound of distant voices pricked his ears.

It was Squee, "Rosie! You're here!"

Johnny snuck up to the window and peered through the boards that blocked it.

"Hello Squee," she gasped, "What happened to Shmee!"

He observed from across the driveway. Squee was holding his faithful teddy bear with tender care. Shmee no longer had his head attached to his body. Fluff and cotton protruded from his open neck and top.

Squee looked at his friend with sad eyes, "Daddy ripped his head off. Daddy says he hates Shmee and that he hates me too."

"Well," Rose took the decapitated Teddy Bear, "Maybe I can get Yoko to fix it. She's pretty handy with a needle and thread."

Johnny noticed that Rose didn't deny the fact that Squee's father hates him. It seemed like anyone else would have said something like 'He doesn't mean that' or 'deep down inside, I bet your dad loves you'. By the way she hears the stories of his cruelty; she wasn't in any form to defend his father's actions and statements. He was too awful of a man.

Rose gave Squee a tight hug, "No matter what, Squee, I will always love you."

Johnny could see it in Squee's teary eyes and happy smile. He wanted to call Rose his mom. He couldn't blame him. Johnny would rather have his little buddy in Rose's care than his parent's. Of course, he couldn't help but wonder how much Rose was getting paid to watch over Squee from morning until late at night. But knowing how modest she was, not nearly as much as she deserves.

Rose held Squee's hand as they journeyed down the sidewalk to the park. Johnny watched them until they disappeared. When they did, he turned around and slouched against the wall, where he sank to the floor. He saw a rat scramble across the floor.

_What am I? Am I a stalker? No, stalkers are sickening perverts that don't leave someone alone. Either way, I want to see Rose again. Not just from a distance, but to spend time with her. I still wonder how she was able to purify me. Well, at least how she made me want to throw away my goal of being cold and emotionless. Because now, it seems like a rather heartless thing. And I, Johnny Colt, do have a heart. _

He had Squee as proof of that, and he had Rose to re enforce it.

The day came and went. Evening was arriving after a day of hiking in the outer city forest trails. Now they just wanted to relax. Squee and his guardian were waist deep in another painting lesson in the park. They as sat next to each other near the elm trees. Rose was able to find Squee his very own little easel, which was a dollar at a garage sale she walked by yesterday. Rose opened a tube of forest green oil paint while Squee used his favorite temperate Kids' Colors paints.

"When you add color to white, it's called a shade. When you add color to black, it's called a tint." Rose informed her student, who was a bit preoccupied with his own masterpiece.

Rose looked over his shoulder to see exactly what he was painting. Her jaw dropped. It was a crude and slightly stick-figured painting of a man with a black trench coat, gloves, boots, and red spiky hair.

"Uh, Squee?" Rose asked, "Who is that?"

He dabbed at more red paint, "His name is Ned. He came over to my house last night."

Rose gulped, "He did? What did he want?"

He scratched his little head, "Well, first I thought it was Johnny asking for something at my window again. But it wasn't Johnny. Ned said he was just my imaginary friend and that he really wasn't there. But I knew he wasn't, because Shmee is my imaginary friend."

"Well, did Ned do anything weird?" she pressed on to the child, a little worried.

"Nope. He said he wanted a friend. He also said he saw you the night when I stayed at your house. He thinks you're really pretty." Squee stroked more black onto Ned's painted coat.

Rose suddenly grew very red. A familiar voice snaked up to them.

"And I still do," the purr of Ned came into their conversation. It made Rose jump a bit.

She turned around. There he was right behind them in that trench coat. This time, he had the dark goggles over his eyes. His coat rippled in the light wind that was approaching.

"Hello, Ned." Rose tried to return to her painting, but it seemed almost impossible not to be a bit nervous.

"I must say, you look lovely today, Miss Rose." He gave a polite bow.

She didn't see exactly what the compliment was about. Today she wore a dark blue denim skirt and a green tank top and flip flops, pretty plain to be precise. Either way, Ned complimented her.

"Thank you," she didn't look at him.

There was something about Ned that Rose didn't like. Even though he was polite, to some extent, and interesting, something about his oddly sharp canine teeth gave him an almost evil image. Rose gave herself a mental slap.

_Rose! Don't be like that! Just because he looks a little sinister doesn't mean he's a monster or something. Try being a little more open to him. You might have hurt his feelings._

"Um, Ned, Squee here says you visited him last night," Rose looked at Squee, him still fixed on his painting.

"Yes I did," Ned began to watch Squee, "By the way, little Squee, did you give Rose that thing I asked you to give her?"

Squee had a confused look on his face. He had no idea what Ned was talking about, "What?"

Ned leaned in, "The thing you left in your pocket."

Squee immediately started searching through his coat pockets, not knowing what he was looking for. Eventually his hand came back holding a little black box tied in a dark red ribbon.

"I shall give it to you later, "Ned lightly took the box from Squee's hand, "But now, night falls. I give you my services to escort you and Squee home safely."

Rose looked at her watch, "He's right, Squee, the park closes after sundown."

They packed their painting equipment into Squee's backpack while Rose carried her canvas. With much persuasion and persisting, Rose agreed to let Ned walk them home. After all, he would follow them the whole way begging. They had arrived at Squee's house just after the sun and sunk below the uneven ridge of buildings in the city horizon.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Squee." Rose gave the little one his hug goodnight and he hurried inside. The door was left wide open for once instead of being locked. He closed it softly behind him. She turned around and ran into Ned's chest, after he was standing so close behind her.

"Rose," Ned stood before her on the sidewalk and held out his hand holding the little black box, "For you, milady."

Rose picked the box from his hand and slowly opened it. A tiny flash lit her eyes. The case snugly held a brilliant gold ring with three large crimson stones. It was perfectly cut and shined like the sun. Never before had she received a surely expensive gift.

"A small token of my admiration, Miss Rose," Ned purred, grinning from her wide-eyed reaction.

Who is this man? Johnny wondered as he observed Rose and the stranger from his window. It seemed rather awkward that he was standing there with Rose in the dark out on the lonely sidewalk. A burning sensation started boiling up in the pit of Johnny's stomach. What was this? Was it jealousy? It certainly was when the man about his age gave her a little black velvet box. It certainly was even more when her eyes lit up from the sight of a shiny ring.

_Who was I fooling? Apparently whatever I lacked, he seems to have. It's obvious because it looks as though no girl can turn down a crummy piece of jewelry. Maybe I should have gotten Rose a gift. Maybe her eyes would light up for me if I bought her something expensive, with no money… _

Johnny disappeared to his basement. He crumpled to the floor stained with dry blood. His mind raced as his body laid there as idle as a dead fish on land. His spirit was broken and his heart scarred.

"Oh, Ned, I can't accept this!"

He smiled, "But you must. It was given to me by my father's bride-to-be before she died upon her death bed. She told me to hold on to it for her."

She snapped the lid shut and handed it back to him, "If that's the case, you should wait and give it to the special woman you want to marry."

His face became dark. Ned gave a sinister smile, revealing his sharp fangs, "That's exactly what I plan to do.

Maybe if Squee wasn't thrown into a closet by his father or Johnny was a few levels higher, they would have heard her scream for help.

The Maiden of Light: Sorry this one took a little longer. I've been really, REALLY busy. I'm trying to invent my own comic series. Anyways, I have a question you can answer in a review. Is my story writing hard, moderate, or easy to follow along with? If it's too hard, I ease up a bit. Please let me know! Read, Review, and Rebel! paints her face white and blue and takes up a Scottish accent Freedom! I am Brave hart, and I fight for freedom!


	12. Johnny and Squee to the Rescue

Disclaimer: Okay, really! Who does not get the point by now!

Her vision was returning to her. The blurry room was coming into focus. Rose looked around. It was a tall circular room walled in stone. She sat there against the cold bricks and freezing on the floor. Even though her arms were limp, her hands remained risen above her head. It was there she realized she was shackled in heavy iron restraints to the wall. A long thick black chain coming from the middle of the floor locked her feet together. All together, she was vulnerable to anything.

The door squeaked loudly as it swung open. Ned, wearing a smug look of satisfaction, strolled into the room. Rose immediately recoiled at the sight of him. How she hated that beast!

"You!" she shouted, "Let me go!"

He just smiled, "Now why would I do that?"

She struggled in her chains, trying to accost him, "I'll kill you!"

His laugh was casual, but oh so evil of a chuckle, "You, a mortal, thinks she can kill me?"

Rose fought to break her chains. But what use was it? They were much stronger than she was. Ned just watched with interest as she struggled. He knew what she was thinking when she stopped.

"I must say you are the most beautiful bride I've ever had." Ned purred. He knelt down at her level and glided his skinny fingers down her cheek.

She snapped at him, "Not even in your dreams!"

"In the past," Ned began, "I have had sixty-eight wives. Only about twelve of them, whom were desperate for love, had agreed to marry me."

Rose retorted, "I suppose you couldn't settle down with just one."

Ned gave a fierce look, "You know not of the curse placed upon me. Hundreds of years ago, I upset the Higher Vampire Lords when the Master's daughter fell in love with me. I loved her, and we wed. Her father was angered because I was not the husband he wanted for her. He cursed me to starve, and to only drink the blood of my wife. That was her punishment. The blood of all others would turn into ash in my mouth."

"So that's why you want to marry me, you're hungry." Rose answered.

He nodded, "Exactly. Within the last century, the effects of the curse were wearing off and I could draw blood from livestock. It filled my stomach, even though it did not fully satisfy my hunger. But the High Vampire Lords saw this and imprisoned me in a fiery chamber, my only doorway out being a wall with the house of little Squee's next door neighbor."

"Squee's next door neighbor? Johnny!" Rose's eyes shot open.

"It seems you know the man," Ned smiled, "He's been keeping me imprisoned for the last few years. But every time I got close to breaking through, he'd lay a new layer of blood from a victim he picked over the wall and seal me out. While he was away for quite some time, I escaped."

"You escaped when Johnny was hurt!" Rose rattled the chains again.

"I see. Well, the night I escaped, I summoned my brother to kill everyone in his house. My poor little brother isn't like me. He was born a hideous demon with teeth and tentacles. Matter it did not, he served his purpose. When he grew strong from all the death he caused, I killed him myself and absorbed his strength. After all, I was very weak." Ned ranted on.

Rose glared at him, "You killed your own brother! You are sick!"

Ned smirked, "Am I not? I found you sometime later, singing your beautiful song. That night I tried to see if the curse had worn off by draining a pair of irritating workers at the 24/7. The blood still couldn't satisfy my hunger, even though it kept me alive. It's like water. You can't survive off it, but it will keep you alive long enough."

"You can't drink my blood," Rose attempted a lie, "I have Sickle Cell Anemia. You'll die if you drink my blood."

Ned scoffed, "You're a beautiful woman but a pathetic liar."

Rose leaned back against the wall. She had become tired from trying to free herself. It was useless. Iron is stronger than the arm. Ned came closer to Rose, practically an inch away from her face.

"I promise you," he spoke in a falsely soothing voice, "Your wedding won't be a disappointment."

She didn't look at him. She didn't want him to see her tears welling in her eyes. He merely stood up and strolled out on the front. The door slammed shut behind him, and echoed throughout the room. It was the only sound Rose could hear for the longest time.

Squee's eyes shot wide open. All he could see was the light coming from the hallway through the keyhole of the closet door. His dream still gave him shivers. He remembered Rose's scared face and Ned's sinister grin. And every word Ned had told her still buzzed in his memory. He needed to help Rose, he needed to rescue her!

Squee threw his little body at the door with all his might. He knew it would wake his parents, but he didn't care. His parents didn't even care about him, why should he care about them. After several tries, and several waves of sweat, a last thrust to the door broke the lock open and flung him onto the hallway floor.

His father hollered from his study, "Be quiet, you little leach. I look forward to the day you die of suffocation!"

Squee ran as fast as his little legs could take him. He grabbed his little blue backpack and unzipped it open. He threw in a little flashlight, a foam-coated softball bat, a little plastic compass, two ChockieChip granola bars, and the two pieces of Shmee.

He called out to his parents as he ran down the stairs, "Bye Mom! Bye Dad! I'm running away!"

The flashing TV lit the room faded blue as his mother continue to snore on the couch. Nothing came from his dad. The door slammed behind him and he took off for Johnny's house.

Johnny's pen flew in the air when several little bangs on the door startled him. He heard a tiny voice on the other side. It sounded like Squee.

"Johnny! Johnny wake up!" he pounded his small fists on the shabby door, "Come on Johnny! I need your help!"

He opened the door to find his little friend all in a panic, "What's wrong, Squee?"

Squee latched his fingers around the hem of Johnny's shirt, "I need your help. We have to save Rosie!"

Johnny's eyes sharpened, "Her new boyfriend can help her."

He turned to go back into the shadows of his house but Squee wouldn't let go.

He pleaded, "Please Johnny! Ned kidnapped Rosie and now he's going to kill her! We have to help!"

Johnny looked down to his young friend. Tears were beading in his giant eyes. But there is another reason. Without Rose, Squee will probably be abused by his parents some more. But the last fact he couldn't deny. After so long of being lost in thought, Johnny had come to the obvious truth, he loved Rose.

"Where do we have to go?" Johnny asked.

Squee smiled brightly, "You'll help!"

He nodded simply, "I'll help. Now how to we get to Ned?"

Squee's face clenched with thought. After a minute or so, an answer came to him, "When Ned came to my house last night he told me he lived in a place where people had come but no one stayed. All the rest were too afraid. The prisoners' ghosts won't leave me alone. The answer lies amongst the stone. Serfs and Vassals of the past, stay with there home until the last. Then he jumped out the window."

It was remarkable to Johnny how a little kid like Squee remembered all that. He stood there in silent thought, calculating the riddle just recited.

_Let me think. Come but don't stay…like a visit. And the rest were too afraid? Prisoners' ghosts…amongst the stone…serfs, vassals. _

"That's it!" Johnny exclaimed, "Eureka!"

Squee jumped up and down, "What! What! What!"

He went on, "It's Camberland Ice Castle."

The kid raised an eyebrow, "Huh?"

Johnny ranted his answer, "Camberland Ice Castle was a tourist attraction three years ago before business went bad and they closed it down. Apparently the ghosts started scaring away more people than attracting them. That's what he meant by 'People come but no one stayed. All the rest were too afraid.' The castle was haunted by two kinds of ghosts: Prisoners from the Zachotony Prison and peasants and vassals from the medieval era. A long time ago, there was a battle at the castle and only the serfs and vassals who truly loyal to the kingdom remained to defend it while the rest fled. The prisoners are there because after a tornado threw a train into the south tower, bricks from the demolished Zachotony prison were used to repair it. Several prisoners died in that place and will remain with it forever. That's the answer that lies within the stone."

It was quite a round up. But it made perfect sense. Squee's head was practically spinning from so many words in less than two minutes.

"Uh, how do we get to the castle?" he wondered.

Johnny snapped his fingers, "We hotwire and borrow."

Johnny seemed to know exactly which car he wanted and exactly how to hotwire it. Where he learned this no one wanted to know. But he led Squee to the black iron gates with the name West above them of a rather fancy looking estate all the way across the city.

"Whose house is this?" Squee silently followed Johnny as they crawled over the fence and snuck across the dark front yard. This place was huge. He wondered why he had never seen it before. But of course this was the richer side of the city.

They neared the garage. It didn't look too well guarded. Johnny and Squee smoothly snuck their way around to the back of the huge garage. They inched over to a huge window placed in the center of the back wall. Johnny searched around in his pockets before digging out a rather small knife. She put it up to the glass and slowly but surely carved into the window. It took about twenty minutes for Johnny to finish a circle big enough for him and Squee to fit through, which didn't have to be too big. He first grabbed Squee and fed him through, then slipped through the hole himself. Squee took out his flashlight and shined in on the vehicle of choice.

He gasped, "We're going to steal the Bat Mobile!"

"Where not stealing the Bat Mobile," Johnny assured to Squee, being relieved to hear this, "We're borrowing it!"

He gulped. Squee just couldn't believe it. Johnny paced around the huge black car, deep in thought. Squee hopped in the passenger seat, feeling the leather cushions.

"Now the last time I did this…" Johnny rambled off, "I took this one wire…"

"Johnny,"

"No, no, no! It wasn't that one. It was that little blue one…"

"Johnny…"

"Oh, damn! I forgot the paperclip!"

"Johnny!"

"WHAT!" Johnny huffed in frustration.

Squee pointed, "The keys are already in the car."

Johnny looked, "Oh."

The garage door smashed open, and the bat mobile raced through the flying debris and torn through the front gate. The windshield wasn't even scratched. Squee held on tight as they zipped down the road faster than any other car. The wind sped over their heads. Several people along the roads either shouted at them or cheered for them.

"Hey, Johnny, "Squee asked, "Do you know the way to the castle?"

Johnny slipped on a pair of sunglasses he found in the glove compartment, "Yep."

Johnny and Squee speeded along the city streets. Passing every cop that didn't seem to care that they were speeding with a stolen, ahem, borrowed car. It buzzed in Squee mind wondering how long before the police realize they stole the Bat Mobile. Johnny turned on Maineway Street. All the while, voices were screaming in Johnny's head.

_Don't worry, Rose. I'll find you. I'll get you out of there. And when I do, I'm gonna KILL Ned!_

The Maiden of Light: Not too bad, eh? I worked on it all Independence Day. tears  It was too rainy for fireworks. And how was the riddle? That one took me a minute or so. Well, I'll write you later. Read, review, and rock! grabs a guitar and smashes it in the side of a speaker. Unfortunately the speaker tips over and crushes me Splat! Uh…ouch…need a….really…big…b…b...band-aid.


	13. It Begins

Disclaimer: (On vacation)

Johnny gripped the stirring wheel tightly. Exactly how Adam West drove this thing so easily in the first place was beyond him. Neatly cropped fields placed along the sides of the road zipped by as they drove down the road. The lights and silhouettes of buildings of the city were far behind them. Squee sat in the passenger seat only half awake with heavy eyelids. Johnny noted that any passing cars had to vigorously swerve out of the way to avoid a head-on collision. The Bat mobile took up almost both lanes.

His gaze rose every once in a while to the stars in the night sky before him. They were his sanctuary when his mind wasn't. He could just stare at them for hours at a time until his mind wondered away from him, into sleep. Sometimes he would lay on the roof under clear nights and count the tiny solar systems and massive galaxies until the sun came up. Those days were cut short by a pair of headlights and several weeks in Rose's care.

The tip of the highest tower became visible in the horizon. Johnny took one hand off the wheel and gently shook Squee awake.

"Squee, Squee, wake up," Johnny whispered, "We're almost there."

His little hands rubbed tired eyes. He stretched his short arms and released a deep squeaky yawn. His eyes practically bulged out when he saw the height of the castle slowly peering up over the hill they were climbing. It looked so sinister with its five sharp towers and dark stone. It reminded Johnny of an evil hand with great talons reaching for the clouds. His eyes gazed upon his own hand. Even though the long black gloves were clean, the true blood could never be removed. These hands were quite evil themselves.

They arrived. The castle had to have been at least fourteen stories tall! The more spacious windows at the base were lit up on the inside through the glowing colors of stained glass. But the narrow short windows up along the towers and higher levels were dark and empty. It seemed as though that was where Ned would be. The parking lot layered a little ways away from the castle, which was where the tourists would gather, was completely vacant without a vehicle to be seen or heard. Once headlines were made about a mysterious case in which a rusty suit or armor chased a group of tourists around the castle with a sword, they business was gone for good.

Squee craned his head back as far as he could to see the very top of the castle towers. Johnny was fumbling with something in his coat pocket. A long thin blade of silver flashed from the moonlight as it was drawn into the cool summer night's air.

"Squee," Johnny approached his short friend, "I might not always be able to protect you while we're in there. If you want to help Rose, you have to be able to help yourself too."

He held out the knife for Squee to take. His little hands clasped around the handle and examined it like it was either a precious treasure or a time bomb. His enormous eyes took in the sight and feeling of holding a dangerous instrument of death. It gleamed in his hands as he tilted it slowly back and forth. His first dagger.

"Use it to protect you." Johnny spoke with a serious mist to his voice, "But remember what you are. Wielding a weapon can do strange things to your mind. Even an once of power can send a man back to his primitive stages."

They stood before the tall oak doors. But their entrance was blocked. The heavy bars of the Iron Gate before the door could probably stop an army from penetrating its powerful barrier. Johnny jammed his fists into his pockets. The breeze swept through the length of his coat and chilled his ankles. Johnny just looked at the gate as another pathetic rope that restrained him from finding Rose.

"There's got to be another way in!" the little one squeaked.

Johnny merely stood there. His mind was flying at the speed of sound. He froze and pondered of a strategy to break into the armed fortress. His cold eyes scanned the building up and down. But something came to his attention.

"Squee," Johnny's eyes traced up the castle entry to a large stained glass window three stories up, "I don't think our entrance will be a quiet one."

Rose slowly lifted her head. Every inch of her body felt so heavy. Weight just seemed to enjoy clinging to her body and making her struggle to stay conscious. When she drifted into sleep earlier, she was unaware of her visitors. Ned had sent two rather demented looking maids into her chamber to dress her for the wedding. They must have been stronger than they looked, because when Rose woke, her feet were flat on the cold stone floor and her arms were pulled high above her head. There were no walls for her to lean against. They had chained her in the center in the room.

Rose looked up to her hands. The wrists were latched together in cuffs held up by a thick iron chain that stretched all the way up to the high ceiling. Her ankles were shackled to the middle of the floor. She could see where the giant heavy anklets were leaving deep pink pressure marks on her bare feet. Her whole body felt as though it were numb.

Her eyes fell upon the paintings that covered the walls almost entirely, darting from one to another. They were all based on a woman that looked a lot like Rose herself. The woman sitting in a garden, another of her holding a white rose, and another of her waltzing with a shadowed man in a dark night. She was everywhere.

A rather distressed looking maid in a dark dead grey dress accidentally pricked her with a needle. She was occupied in tightening the midriff of the white wedding dress. Rose yelped out in surprise.

"Ouch!" she cried.

"Hush now," the maid silenced her, "I'm not having anymore enjoyment in this than you are. Master Ned's last four wives were all the same dress size."

"I never thought Ned was one to prefer a wife in a white dress," Rose retorted.

"Well, I always did have some sort of attraction to innocence." A voice purred as it came near.

At the open doorway to the circular prison cell, Ned leaned coolly on the threshold. He waved his hand to dismiss the maids. They lifted the lengths of their dresses and hurried out of the room, needles and thread bobbins falling here and there to the floor. He approached his fiancée, coming very close to her.

"I suppose that this is the same wedding gown all your past wives and meals have worn." Rose said sharply.

Ned's eyes narrowed a bit. He looked Rose up and down. The dress she wore was simple. It was a long angelic white gown under a slimming layer of snow white Toole. Being strapless, it was easier to dress her in with her arms raised above her head. Thanks to the alterations made by the maids, it fit to her curves perfectly. The boddess held her torso snuggly and was laced up tightly in the front.

"It is almost perfect." Ned spoke as he dug in his pockets for something.

His hand came back out with something silvery tangled around his fingers. Rose watched as he unraveled a delicate shining necklace with a thin white foggy crystal as a pendent. She shivered as the cold metal was placed around her neck. Ned stepped back to view Rose's entire form.

"Now it is perfect," Ned smirked cruelly, "I must say, you look as beautiful as she did on our true wedding day."

Rose spoke, "Your original love, I presume?"

Ned looked away, "Yes, Xiao was a woman of immense beauty and had a heart almost as pure as an angel. You would have never guessed that she was a blood drinking creature of the night. When I first saw her, I mistook her for an angel or a goddess. But her fangs were her telltale."

Rose questioned to him, "I still wonder why you chose me of all the women in the city."

Ned directed his eyes upon her, "Even though I am still quite young, my memory fades little by little as I cling to this transparent life. After all, I was supposed to die. The Vampire Lords didn't know I would become cold. I became able to destroy a life from the inside and out and carry no shame on my back. So, I married and fed over and over just for the soul purpose of satisfying my hunger. But even so, all my victims have a few things in common."

He held his narrow gloved hand up to Rose's face, gently stroking his fingers down her cheek, "One, they all somehow resemble the beautiful Xiao…"

Rose glared, giving Ned a look of venom saying that she would rather not he touch her, but he rambled on, "Two, they sing the most enchanting songs. Your lullaby was the loveliest thing I had heard in years."

"Your selection is still quite wide," Rose snapped softly.

Ned continued with an air of demand, "And three, they have a heart that is clean and pure."

He stared into Rose's deep chocolate eyes, only inches away from her, "I believe I have made the correct selection."

He gently tilted her chin up. Now, a shiver of fear spread from where he touched her. Rose's whole body froze where it stood. Even though she was restrained, the power to struggle had suddenly left her. A sense of fear took over her body. She realized that she would be dieing within the night.

"Is it all ready Squee?" Johnny called from inside the bat mobile. He had to lift the eye protector of a helmet he found in the trunk to be heard.

Squee, who was outside holding a control device, nodded and awaiting his orders.

He strapped himself in with the seatbelt extra tightly. "On three, two one, now!" Johnny counted down and held onto his helmet tightly.

Squee held his breath and tapped a little black button on the controller that read 'Eject'. Suddenly, the roof of the Bat Mobile flipped open and Johnny, still in his seat, shot out of it like a clown from a jack-in-the-box. He rocketed like a cannonball straight through the stained glass window above the iron gated door. Shards and splinters of colored glass rained and spat in every direction as Johnny crashed through the window and into the castle. He and his chair landed on the marble floor loudly and tumbled all the way to the foot of the grand stairway. When the ride was over and all had come to a still, Johnny roughly crawled his way out of the mangled driver's seat. It didn't help when the giant black parachute shot out of the back several seconds too late.

Johnny searched around the door frame. His eyes gazed at a stately looking lever that looked as though it set off the chain that pulled the Iron Gate outside up and down. With much frustration and effort from his skinny arms, Johnny finally tugged the lever to the opposite side. The massive thick metal chain began reeling up and the sound of something heavy outside was being lifted. When all the movement ended with a loud 'clunk' the giant wooden door slowly opened with a loud and long creaking noise.

"It worked, Johnny!" Squee came bounding in, "It worked, it worked, it worked!"

Johnny held out his hands, "Shhhhhh! I think we've been heard. We better move, and fast! Follow me!"

Ned suddenly froze, less than an inch away from Rose trembling lips. His ears pricked. The sound of a loud crash with a spray of shattering glass echoed throughout the castle. He looked towards the door.

"We seemed to have guests," Ned abandoned Rose where she was and smoothly walked out the door. The tap of his booted footsteps slowly faded away into the halls of the castle.

Johnny and Squee weaved their way through the shadows of the castles corridors. The only way they could find Rose now would be if they search in every room they come across. But Johnny didn't care. He felt a surge of determination like he had never experienced before. He would do whatever it took to rescue Rose. He won't let her die. Or worse, be married to Ned.

_We're coming. Hang on Rose…_

The Maiden of Light: Okay, this one felt like it took weeks, even though it was only days. My schedule has been commanding me with a whip! Softball games, chores, kidnap Jhonen, practice, 4H projects, movie night with boyfriend, conquer earth, water neighbors' plants...I'm going to kill somebody! And to top it all off, I had a garage sale to tend to. Why me? Why! DOSITE (Japanese for 'why')! I've gone ever so slightly, almost, an itty bitty bit (completely) insane. Read, review, and run!

Schedule: cracks the whip Get back to work! You have softball practice in an hour!

The Maiden of Light: cowers in fear Yes, sir.


	14. I've been Looking for You

Disclaimer: I have returned from the Caribbean! And I bought cheap little trinket souvenirs for all. throws key chains in every direction I also have come to say that The Maiden of Light does not own any of the Johnny the Homicidal Maniac property.

The Maiden of Light: You went to the Caribbean and never took me with you! Sic 'em Schedule!

Schedule: Arf! Arf! Arf! breaks off his chain leash and chases the disclaimer around

Disclaimer: AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Ned swept through the corridors, leaving silence behind him. Even rats skittering across the cold stone floors were tided in fear by his brief presence. His eyes smoothly shifted from room to room as his passed their thresholds, his ears pricked for the sound of unwanted guests lurking in the shadows of the dark rooms. But his smell was intrigued. Ned could smell the blood of the intruder. It smelt of fear.

Johnny and Squee were desperately searching for a flight of stairs. They had been through every room, every hall, and every corridor of the first level. Squee was always the one to jump whenever a rodent dashed across his feet. Johnny had to practically strangle Squee when he covered his mouth. Every time he thought he saw a ghost, he would give his famous squeal. The last thing they needed was for Ned to know where they were. Johnny had the feeling that he already knew they were in the castle.

They slowly crept into what seemed to be a cluttered storage room. Scraps of damaged armor and dulled weapons and shields were piled high on the wooden floor.

Squee tugged lightly on Johnny's sleeve, "Johnny, I don't like this room. What if the floor falls underneath us?"

Johnny hushed him, "If it has lasted this long with all this garbage, then I think it will survive us for a few seconds."

Squee brought his little fists to cover his mouth. He didn't see how Johnny could stay so calm in here. Every time he felt a wave of cold air whoosh by him, he was overwhelmed in fear. He remembered seeing pale transparent shadows move about the corridors and sending chills all throughout his body. Suddenly, all gravity pulled Squee down. The floor had dropped beneath him and all he saw was the darkness of wherever he was. It happened so fast, he didn't even get the chance to scream. But apparently he was sliding down some ramp as the trapdoor above closed up. Johnny looked behind him. Where Squee had been standing was now empty space. No noise had been made. He simply vanished.

"Squee?" Johnny looked around, "Where'd you go?"

No response. Only the chill and creeks within the castle could be heard. Johnny looked down to the rickety floor.

_Great, now I have to rescue him too…_

Ned's eyes were fixed upon a tall mount of hay. He looked about the little room. It was barren with the exception of the straw floor and the heap in the center. He tapped his foot on the muffled ground as his patience slowly slipped away. He never liked this particular room. The lost souls of prisoners would gather here every once in a while in their recreation and hold matches of wrestling skill. They would make loud obnoxious noise, knock things over, and the room reeked of their ectoplasmic sweat.

Ned heard a rattling noise above. A high-pitched squealing noise was quickly becoming louder and louder. He watched as a small child which extremely big eyes fell from the chute in the ceiling and sunk into the tall pile of straw. His lips curved into a one sided smile of amusement. This kid was obviously a chicken. But he had enough guts to even come here. By the looks of things, he was alone. As two small hands slowly emerged and clambered through the mountain of hay, he could identify his intruder. Ned knew right off the bat just who this child was.

"So, how are you doing, little Squee?" he spoke in his accented purr.

Squee abruptly tumbled out of the straw rolled onto the floor. His eyes wobbled around unsteadily with dizziness as though he had just fallen off a very fast Merry-Go-Round. His blurry vision slowly but surely narrowed back to normal and he saw one of the last things he ever wanted to see. Ned was standing there before him, looking strangle amused. His face seemed slightly shadowed as his head eclipsed the light glowing from the torch behind him. It looked almost devious, just like his smile.

It felt like hours passed as time slowly whittled away. The silence was almost becoming like company to her as she longed for each passing minute to have Ned absent from it. Rose sat stilly in her chamber. Surprisingly, it wasn't a dungeon like the one she was dressed in. It was more like a bed room. The four-poster bed she sat upon the edge of was massive and yet the satin crimson colored sheets still covered it completely. Intricate carvings of thin thorny vines trailed all the way up the tall posts that held up the smooth sloping canopy. The large blood red cushions were trimmed and tasseled in gold. A grand towering wardrobe of cherry wood stood in the corner as it overshadowed the rest of the dressing furniture in the room. A dim amount of light was shining from the spectacular crystals of the chandelier. Rose's eyes fell upon the west wall. There was a long velvet curtain of shadowy red along it. It must have been some sort of a window. She thought she'd never see one again. As soon as it caught her eye, Rose tugged hastily on a golden rope linked to the top of the curtain pull. The heavy veil slid aside to reveal what it hid.

Rose backed away from the splendid masterpiece so she could view the entire thing. It practically lit the room by itself. It was a tall and realistic painting of a woman Rose almost mistook for herself. This must be Ned's true love, Xiao. The painting looked so real, as if you could reach through the canvas and feel the smooth skin of her face. Her eyes were so soft and understanding as though they weren't painted at all, but a true face that could see you back. The creamy white silk her dress was made of looked so much more smooth and angelic than that the true dress was sewn from. Rose's fingertips yearned to stroke the soft white material but her head kept reminding her that it was merely a painting. She still couldn't hold a complete grasp on the fact that this Xiao looked so much like her.

Evening the golden frame was perfect, or was it. The left side of the picture seemed ever so slightly tilted outwards. Rose's eyes scanned up and down along the edge of the frame. Twice, she came upon a tiny metal plate that prevented the painting from completely touching the wall. They were hinges. Ever so carefully, Rose slowly pulled the right side of the painting towards her. The hinges squeaked liked mice as the beautiful portrait doubled as a secret door.

Rose was quite surprised at what she found. It wasn't a secret passage way or an exit, but a small compartment containing a very, very thick book. It was bound in black leather with neat golden letters printing **Nedisire G. Silverstell**. Rose's hand shivered slightly as they reached for the massive book. Coldness seemed to be practically radiating from it. It sent chills up her fingers as she touched the cover, and it only chilled her more as she opened it. Several time-yellowed pages had been torn out before a tidy scrawl had graced the first page.

_I have never been so excited in my entire life. I still cannot grip that today is my wedding day. By what I have heard, Xiao feels the same way, only with so much more guilt. After all, her father would rather her to marry someone else and not I. I keep sweating like mad, I'm probably just a little nervous. But why should I be? I am the luckiest creature of darkest ever to drink the blood of random people like cattle! Oh well, off to the chapel…_

Rose turned the page. This book must be some sort of journal for Ned. But the next page wasn't a journal entry; it was a black and white photograph. The slightly curled portrait appeared to be of Ned and a different woman in the same wedding dress Rose was wearing. But it wasn't her nor Xiao, her nose was much thinner, but still looked like her. She flipped to the next page, another photo. Once again, it was a wedding memory of Ned and another bride with shorter presumably chestnut colored hair and the hand-me-down wedding dress. Rose scanned through the pages as she flipped through them all. Every single one was a wedding photo of Ned and another woman that resembled his beloved Xiao. All of them were frowned, except for a few smiles every so on. Ned has been pulling this scheme for quite a long time.

"It has been working for a long time as well," an all-too-familiar English purr slithered to Rose's ears and sent chills down her neck. Ned's voice seemed very cold when no one else could hear him.

"It seems strange how you can respond to my thought without me even speaking," Rose snapped the book shut loudly and tossed it back into the little safe compartment without any regards as to how fragile time has made it.

He smirked as he leaned against the threshold of the doorway, "They all tend to think the same thoughts when they figure out the past. Xiao was very observant after all."

Rose glared at him, giving a look her kind face normally wouldn't allow, "Dream all you like, I nor the other women you have tricked are the one you love. You should free me, now."

He snickered, amused by her attitude at this. He found her to be much more polite about this and yet just as hateful, "Not gonna happen."

All froze when the sound of a long bong from a church bell echoed throughout the castle. One after another rang down each corridor, into every room, and probably rattled in every dungeon.

Ned pulled a silver pocket watch from the left side of his coat and flipped the shiny lid up to observe what the timepiece read. He casually clicked it shut and slid it back in his pocket. He gave a slick smirk, "Are you ready, my beautiful bride?"

The Maiden of Light: Yeah! The schedule ran away and I have much more time now for writing the story. I know it has been a while, but the new chapter is up! Read, Review, and rejoice! pops the cork off a Champaign bottle

Some guy: Ah! My eye!


	15. Time to Die

Disclaimer: In the name of the almighty frozen waffle head, bow down before me!

Almighty Frozen Waffle Head: …

Disclaimer: Where's the almighty frozen waffle head?

Hippietrekx: munches on a waffle OO uh…whoops?

The great hall where the wedding was about to begin was almost empty. Apparently, none of the ghosts wished to attend the wedding, either that or they weren't even invited. The columns of benches lined from the front to the very back were cold, silent, and still under a thin blanket of dusted. The alter, however, was a little more illuminated and cleansed. The stone walls had been draped with capes of black velvet to hide the grey bricks. Rusted vases of dark red roses on the walls decorated the empty hall to impress no one but the groom and his unwilling bride. The scene of the wedding remained silent and motionless until the heavy red oak doors creaked loudly open. Ned, dressed in a slightly fancier long coat, emerged with his arm linked to that of his almost-bride.

They slowly approached the adorned alter. Rose watched with amaze as thin white mist clouded behind the large dressed table. It began to shape and mold until it became tall and narrow. Slowly, it smoothened and sculpted itself into the image of a man dress in priest's robes. Rose could still see the set up behind him.

Ned and Rose approached the ghostly pastor as second by second crept slower than the last. Rose even became close enough to see the scar across the man's face from eyebrow to chin, obviously the work of a medieval sword. The stains of his past-existent blood shimmered silver upon his face and in blossoms on his intangible robes. His death must have been brutal for a holy man to endure. Rose and Ned halted before aged wooden altar and the priest.

Ned whispered in a hushed voiced, "Are you ready, my dear?"

Rose abandoned all her restraint. She forcefully tugged her arm away from Ned's link and glared at his with such distaste, "This wedding isn't going to happen..."

Rose would have felt a little more secure with her words if Ned's lips hadn't have curled into a slight smile, revealing he had an ace up his sleeve. He gently smacked head with his palm, "How foolish of me, of course! How can this wedding take place without the rings?"

He snapped his fingers loudly and listened as the echo bounced around the hall. At the other end of the chapel, a tiny short figure slowly trotted up the isle, becoming larger as it became closer. It appeared very pale and dressed in dark clothes. Soon, she saw that it had very large, scared eyes.

Rose gasped, "Squee..."

Ned snickered as he watched them recognize each other, "Yes, I thought that little Squee would make a fine ring bearer. And he is so agreeable."

Rose snapped her head to face him, "Why did you take him?"

He responded, "The child knew what I was capable of. He is afraid to die, like everyone else. But not as fear, as worry. Squee knew that you wound be sad if he was dead."

"You monster!" She scowled. Her knuckles became white as she clutched them tightly.

He smiled kindly, almost as if her insult was a compliment, "Why yes I am, Miss Rose, I truly am."

The scared little child stood before them, unsteadily rising up a silk burgundy cushion which cradled two separate rings. The one that Ned presented to Rose the night he kidnapped her, and a simple gold band with an intricate cursive N engraved into it. Squee's eyes were brimmed in tears of fright as he presented the wedding treasures. Rose's blossom painted lips began to quiver as her own tearing eyes looked into his. This could be the last time she could see her little Squee. It was here that Rose realized how much he meant to her. Squee wasn't just some child she looked after to earn some money. He was her little friend, a piece of her, almost a son.

Ned raised his hands and announced to an audience that did not exist, "Let this wedding commence!"

Rose watched him with wonderment as he did this. He lowered his arms and took her hand tightly, "After all, it's been a long time since I'd eaten. I'm starving."

The color drained out of Rose's face, as did Squee's. But Ned looked absolutely delighted that he was being married for the who-knows-how-many time. The ghostly priest coughed softly to clear his throat and he opened his little bible to the first bookmark.

He read aloud in a voice like a trumpet, "Dearly beloved lord, we are gathered here today to wed these lovers into holy matrimony..."

"Lovers!" Rose blurted out with rage. Ned's grip on her hand became tighter like an iron vice grip until they both heard, and in Rose's case, felt, the cracking of a thin hand bone. He truly was a monster.

Rose bit her lower lip to prevent herself from screaming as a searing pain began burning through her delicate hand. Ned could feel her fingers trembling in his grasp.

The priest ignored this and continued, "Are there any who object to this union?"

This is perhaps why Ned's weddings had no guests, dead or alive. He probably made sure that Squee doesn't speak out against his wishes. And Rose knew the consequences of her objection as her eyes gazed upon the trembling ring bearer. Silence was settled throughout the decorated hall without a retort to be heard...almost.

"Then I now pronounce you vampire and wife," the priest quietly closed his bible, but spoke one last phrase before softly vanishing into the chapel, "You may now kiss the bride."

Ned turned to Rose, she was full of fear. Her trembling lips were practically begging for the final seal of bonding. Perhaps it was him, perhaps it was the moment and situation, but Rose simply could not move. Almost as if Ned's icy glare had left her frozen on the spot. His face neared hers all the while he stared into her fright-stricken eyes.

Out of the blue, they heard a strange flapping noise, almost like fluttering pages. Then, a rectangular burgundy red object, which turned out to be a bible, smacked loudly against the side of Ned's face. He cringed and hunched up, stumbling away from the alter, swearing the whole way in some strange tongue. Rose looked towards the columns of benches in the church. Sitting there in the farthest corner first row, was a solemn stranger dressed in dark clothes and clouded by shadow. He was sickeningly thin and ghostly pale with eyes that practically sank into his skull with dark shadows. Rose had never seen someone she would rather see more. It was the face of Johnny.

His voice crept from the dark, "I don't think she wants to be your wife."

Johnny stood up and approached them, exiting the security of the shadows. He was draped in the nightmare cloak that was his long black coat from Rose. She had tears of happiness beading in the corners of her eyes. It was second best to being rescued, and it was good enough. Ned merely snarled at him as his clutched the reddened side of his face with such distaste for this uninvited guest.

"What are you doing here!" Ned's eyes began to turn a little red themselves.

Johnny twilled his finger coolly as his strolled up to them in a rather smug fashion, "Hmm. I do believe there is a wedding taking place here. I would be crazy to miss out on the cake!"

Johnny seemed to have thrown that book pretty hard, due to a thin trickle of dark blood trailed down Ned's face and dripped off his chin. Rose watched as the unseen intensity between these two became thicker with each second. The more she thought about it, Rose noticed that Johnny and Ned looked very similar, almost like long lost brothers. But yet they were so different that they practically should be at war.

"I think it's time for you to go." Ned released his face, the whole side rather deeper in color and slightly bloodied. His eyes were a flare.

"And I think it's time for you to die." Johnny slipped his skinny fingers into his pocket and pulled out a gleaming silver knife.

Ned almost seemed prepared for this as he drew a long knight's sword from the sheath concealed within the hidden secrets of his long dark burgundy coat. All hell broke loose. They launched at each other and began the duel to the death. Their weapons clashed many times, each one bringing a loud metallic crash to echo about the church. Rose backed into the cold stone wall, as far as she could get from the dangerous blades.

They both slid across the floor on posed feet and skidded to a stop. Both had the same thought upon his mind. That this would be harder than he thought, and that Rose was on the line.

Ned swiftly wiped away the tiny crimson river of blood on his face, "Not bad for a human."

Johnny smirked, "Oh, believe me. I don't deserve to be called a human."

They charged at each other. When they met, they stopped. Both had their weapons drawn, both were still. There was a terrible sound, the sound of a sharp blade impaling an enemy echoing through the great hall. All was still, until Johnny collapsed to the hard stone floor with Ned's blood coated sword struck into his stomach and reappearing through his back. Johnny coughed and sputtered, his gaze becoming more and more lost. He was dying, and Ned was pleased. Rose felt her heart freeze to a stop. The cold practically swept her away. She become almost lifeless herself in that cold white wedding dress. The whole room seemed to have lost its color.

The sound of a sword being withdrawn from Johnny's insides left Rose with shivers. He fell to the floor. A stream of spilling crimson began to spread away from him. Johnny's fingers twitched a few times before he ceased to move, with the exception of his lips, which barely mouthed out a single invisible word.

"Rose…"

She dropped her bouquet of roses and ran to him. She fell to her knees beside his bleeding body. His eyes looked up at her, softened, then closed. He there sank into that final sleep. Never more than now did this young murder ever look so much like a guardian angel that fell for the one he protected. Her hand slowly reached out to touch him. But Ned simply wouldn't allow it.

"Don't you dare touch him," He thrust out his hand and snagged her arm before she came too close to Johnny, "I don't want you getting blood on Xiao's dress."

Ned's rough dragged Rose back onto her feet and pulled her away from the corpse on the ground. He stared at Johnny for a moment, then slid his stained sword back into hiding.

He turned to Rose, "Now that this little distraction has ended, I believe it is now time for our honeymoon."

Ned's smiled cruelly. Never before had has fangs looked so long and sharp. And never before to Rose had his eyes looked so hungry. Hungry for her blood.

Johnny's vision slowly began to fade. He saw Rose's beautiful face, but so full of worry and fear. Then everything faded into darkness.

_Dear Diary,_

_I think I really am dead this time…_

The Maiden of Light: Okay, this one took a little longer. But I had a vacation, no, not a vacation, A SLAVE DRIVE, to take up my writing time. And I was having computer troubles. So here is the next chapter. Cookies to all who waited! throws cookies everywhere

Some random guy: Ow. My eye!

The Maiden of Light: Whoops! Anyways, I'm not done yet! Keep having faith in me! Read, Review, and Ride on! jumps on a rocking horse and goes crazy


	16. My First Kill

Disclaimer: The moose flies at midnight! I warn you and warn you now. This is a short chapter. I repeat. This is a short chapter. Purpose: to fill the gap between the next and last chapters.

Rose collapsed to the floor as she was thrown onto the circular rug like a feeble rag doll. Ned locked the heavy chamber door behind him. After the secure sound of the padlock locking into place, he turned towards his next dinner. She looked so helpless, so weak, and so delicious as she managed to sit up and rub her head with her delicate hands. Several strands of rich brown hair fell over her right eye as she stared at him. She was afraid. Just a little fear was the perfect spice to any meal. Ned advanced towards her.

"My dear, sweet Rose," he inched closer with each word, "I am afraid that our time together is nearly at an end."

Rose strained as she tried to crawl backwards on the floor. But the pain in her hand shot through her whole arm like a brigade of needles was immediately struck into her wrist. She cringed with each dose of pressure put on it. Unfortunately, it didn't help her escape Ned's great hunger any faster. He still approached her, looked almost more like a starving sly tiger than a man. All Ned could do was watch her as she struggled.

He raised his hand up and flicked his wrist. Then, some phenomenal amount of energy restricted Rose's ankles from moving, then her legs, her midriff, and farther. It was like a giant invisible boa constrictor was wrapping itself around her body, only instead of becoming locked into position, she became limp. Rose felt the unpleasant burn of the Ned's spell take her arms captive. It the end, she felt like every bone in her body from the shoulders down had decided to spontaneously die on her. Ned couldn't have been happier with his magical manipulative abilities when he was starving. Rose merely laid there on the cold rough rug, fighting to force her limbs to move. If only they would obey.

Ned held his hand in the air. All weight and gravity seemed to leave Rose's body as suddenly; she slowly levitated into the air. She smoothly rose up from the uncomfortable floor and into the air. It felt as though someone was holding her up by her shoulders and lifting her up. She was raised until her bare feet were only inches from the ground. Rose looked up at Ned. Her eyes were burning with a combination of hate, sadness, and tears that rolled down her cheeks.

He walked up her, only inches remained between them. Ned brought his fingers under Rose's chin to tilt her head up a bit so he could look directly into her eyes. The two gazes clashed violently. Rose wanted nothing more than to kill this bastard right here and now. She had never felt such rage before. It coursed through her veins as if her very blood was molten. Ned had taken away something her heart kept most precious. Johnny was now dead, and Squee was missing. Wait, what happened to Squee?

"Now, before I drink," Ned leaned in and closed the little space between him and Rose.

Her eyes widened fearfully as she felt his chapped lips upon her own. It was a passionate kiss, but it completely lacked passion. Rose couldn't believe that Ned had the nerve to kiss her like this after all he put her through. A slight stinging manifested where he wasn't very careful with his fangs. If Rose had the ability, she would beat Ned to a bloody pulp, but being immobile didn't help very much. She could feel his tongue smoothly glide along her lower lip to collect the beading drop of blood before it rolled down her chin.

He backed away and licked his lips, "Delicious."

Ned's next smile was absolutely sinister. His fangs gleamed white with a hungry lust for blood of the deepest red. A spike of his crimson red hair fell over one of his deep thirsty eyes. Just by smiling, Ned appeared to be more of a demon than anything else. The only thing that scared Rose more at the moment was the fact that he took a step closer.

"And now," he stood before her and grabbed her arms roughly, "I'll end this."

Rose clenched her eyes shut and awaited Ned's fangs to bury deeply into her neck, but it never came. All that she heard was the high ring of a dagger making its claim. She opened one eye. Ned was frozen where he stood, a look of shock on his face. His labored breathing was failing him as he stood there. A tiny amount of blood sputtered from the center of Ned's abdomen. With a sudden gasp, he dropped to his knees and doubled over, clutching his stomach. When he fell over onto his side, twitching slightly, a small boy clutching a crimson coated dagger in his tiny hand. His eyes were wide with disbelief of the sinful deed he had just committed. It was Squee.

"Rosie," Tears began beading in the eyes of the little one, "I'm sorry. I didn't want to kill him. But he was going to hurt you. I, I, I didn't w, want him to hurt you."

Not only Squee had eyes that were brimmed with tears. It spite of all that has happened to the two of them, they couldn't be happier just to see each other in safety's hands. But it didn't last long.

"Nice try, little Squee," Ned's blank stare shifted towards the small child, "But not good enough."

Like a marionette puppet being lifted off the floor by its strings, Ned rose off the cold stone ground of his room. A large crimson stain was spreading from the point of where Squee had driven his dagger through him. But unfortunately, it did not aid in Squee's attempt to kill him. He still stood strong, even with blood flowing from his body.

"I may be brutal, but I have a soft spot for children," Ned limped towards them, "I will make sure his death is nice and quick, but horribly agonizing!"

Rose wrapped her arms protectively around Squee. It was the embrace of a mother guarding her child. The only real mother Squee ever had. He had to protect her. He had to protect his Rosie. Squee wrung himself free from Rose's arms. He launched himself at Ned. To Squee, Ned wasn't an enemy. He was the embodiment of every single thing he hated. Being taunted and picked on, his house, his life, his parents, and someone who dared to hurt Rose. With as much strength as his small body would allow, he threw himself at Ned and took him to the hard stone floor.

"Get off of me!" Ned shouted as he hit the floor, "You disgusting little ground weasel!"

Squee brought his blood stained dagger into the air over the struggling Ned. With a final glare into his eyes, he sent the blade straight into Ned's heart.

_It is over… _

Ned gasped. But each breath he drew never made it to his lungs. Dark blood slowly began to stream from the center of his chest. The look in his eyes softly began to fade.

_It is finished… _

Ned had the true appearance of a dying man. One with a last wish, with a lost hope, with…relief. With much perserverence, he slowly raised his hand and reached out for Rose, no where close enough to touch her.

His vision faded into darkness, "I'm coming Xiao. I'm almost there."

_It is done…_

His head rested back onto the floor, his chest fell and did not rise, and his hand dropped limply to the stone. His pale skin became white and his eyes peacefully closed. Ned was finally dead.

The Maiden of Light: I told you so! I told you it would be short. The only point of this chapter was to connect the last one and the next one. Well, school started, so I was a little slowed and my mother is a computer hog, but she needs it for work. Read, Review, and research for more humorous actions that begin with an R.


	17. Where the Hell am I?

_What is this feeling? Why am I …warm? I'm supposed to be dead? Does that mean I could still be alive? Wait, what am I saying? That damn bastard Ned ran a sword through my intestine! I wonder if I can wake up._

Johnny slowly opened his eyes, which was much harder than he thought as his lids felt as though they were lined with lead. His pupils dilated as they took in the first, rather dim, light of life after death. The world poured into his eyes. As he slowly looked around, he saw that it was the world of hell.

_After all that I've done, I deserve to be here…_

He could feel powerful gusts of rather unnatural wind fly past him accompanied by either the sound of rushing or loud blaring. His body felt as though he had been limp for days, not just minutes. With much time to regain the ability to stand up without immediately falling back onto the ground, he eventually was able to stand straight up. He looked around his surroundings. It was definitely Hell, but not the Hell that he had always imagined it would be. It looked more like Detroit back on earth. It was there that Johnny realized that he was standing in the middle of a street packed with rushing cars that probably weren't in any mater going to avoid him.

A bright candy red truck was quickly approaching, smearing the air with dark clouds of exhaust. The engine was roaring like a beast. Johnny scampered and practically dove into a crowd of hobos on the sidewalk to avoid being ran over. His first experience with being struck by a moving vehicle wasn't very pleasant and still isn't something he wanted to relive.

A particularly filthy and unkempt looking man of the hobo's crowd glared down upon the sickly thin and shadowy character that hurtled as them, but it quickly turned into a smile.

"Well, bless my boots," he held out a grubby hand for Johnny to take, which he stared at for a moment before accepting, "It's Johnny C."

His hobo companions turned with interest to his name. Johnny was slightly confused how a bunch of men who slept on the cruel streets in raggedy coats and dressed in whatever garments others had lost use for knew his name so well.

"Um, I'm afraid that I don't know you, sir hobo man." Johnny looked at each of them; their eyes were lit with joy.

The man laughed heartily, "Well, we certainly know you. There isn't an old broken down homeless guy anywhere within the Midwest that hasn't had their day lit up by the joys of Happy Noodle Boy."

Johnny now understood, "Oh, yes, I remember now. It seemed like only homeless people could really appreciate it."

The hobos really seemed to like Johnny with his rather random works of creativity. It took him practically forever to escape them. The more he wanted to leave, the more they wanted to discuss the comic, such as when the next issue was coming out. It took one of the most clever and strategically used verbal tactics that few people were capable of performing correcting.

Johnny shouted and he pointed out somewhere, "Look, that fat guy over there just threw away a half finished corndog!"

They ran, and disappeared. Johnny wiped his gloved arm across his forehead. That was that. He proceeded on down the sidewalk, walking right past the gaggle of hobos digging around in a trash can for something that wasn't even there. He just whistled and passed by without a hint of notice.

Hell seemed to be thriving with people that looked possibly normal and might not have even committed a sin in their lives. The way God and Satan judge whether who goes where is still a mystery to Johnny, but exactly where he belonged was a step above obvious. This is where he belonged after death. After all, he's admitted to doing horrible things with salad tongs. But Hell looked more to him like earth than a fiery blaze pit of eternity from which pain to the best and worst thing that you have to look forward to. And as he watched everyone else just carrying on with their everyday routines as if they had never even been condemned to Hell, he realized that perhaps this place wouldn't be as bad as he imagined. There were a few aspects of the scenery that he found quite beautiful. The sky looked as though it were on fire, not a sunset, but actually in flames.

What truly caught his attention was a giant, almost heavenly looking mansion that towered over every other building and house in all that he could see. It didn't seem very Hellish at all. In fact, it appeared to have been constructed of white marble that the flaming sky cast a reddish glow upon. There were eight great pillars on what seemed to be the front porch. It was a truly magnificent house. And to Johnny's thought, it must have been where Satan lived, which was rather surprising.

He spent most of his time kicking an empty and slightly dented soda can in front of him until he found something more interesting to do. There wasn't really anywhere he could go until he found out more about this place. He kicked the can viciously into the street; where it was suddenly crushed flat by the tires of the same red truck that nearly crushed him flat earlier. But the truck came to a halt, and the darkly tinted windows rolled down, unmasking the driver.

It wasn't a man he was too familiar about. He seemed like someone he might run into on the streets or something, but no one he knew personally. His hair was deep black and shined like a raven's wings, not to mention it was rather well tussled. His skin was slightly darker than pale, but slightly paler than dark. It was difficult to make up one's mind about the tone. Either way, he had a light pink scar at the height of his jawbone. His unforgiving sunglasses gave him a cool look and he dressed completely in black, with the exception of a red tie with many white skulls in a laughing pose.

He leaned towards the window, his voice very tenor and shrouded with a brisk English accent, "Hey, are you Johnny Colt?"

Johnny looked at him, "That depends, are you familiar with Happy Noodle Boy?"

The man raised an eyebrow, which obviously indicated that he had no idea what Johnny was talking about.

He removed his sunglasses, revealing crimson red eyes that any woman with a romantic fascination for a man with a dark side would instantly fall head over heals for. He spoke, "My Lady informed me to fetch you to bring you to her Home. She wishes to meet you."

Johnny shrugged his shoulders, his hands tucked into his pockets, "Where does she live?"

The stranger nodded his head back in the opposite direction, towards the other side of the street, "In that house."

Johnny peered over the hood of the tall truck to glance at this mystery woman's place of residence. All he saw was a second rate Laundromat.

"Uh, sir," Johnny looked at him with an eye of wonderment, "That's a Laundry place."

The man shook his head, "No, I meant, that big house."

This time, he pointed at the towering mansion so near yet so far away. It never looked so huge until now.

Soon enough, Johnny was strapped down in the passenger seat of the next closest thing to a monster truck, headed towards the largest house he had ever seen in his life (and death) with some mysterious guy with an eye discoloration to meet a lady he had never before met in his time down here and yet she wished to see him. It was all kind of overwhelming. Whoever Johnny's driver was, he seemed to be a very good driver. There had been a total of six car crashes and at least a dozen people fell straight out of the sky (Johnny now came to the conclusion that that is how people arrived into Hell, as ungraceful as it gets) that he easily avoided.

"So," Johnny uneasily broke the silence of screeching car tires from every vehicle that couldn't drive around the edge of a coin without wrecking, "What's your name?"

The man took a left as he turned into the smooth driveway of the mansion's estate, "My name is Gerald Wolfen Chefant the Third, but everyone just calls me Jerry for short."

The truck pulled to a stop before the great mansion. All Johnny could really do was gaze upon the magnificent house. In fact, he had to crane his neck back painfully to see that there was actually a little golden clock near the top of the fourth pillar. The walls were perfected whitewashed and polished.

Jerry slid his sunglasses back onto the bridge of his nose, "This is where I let you go, but there should be someone inside waiting for you. My sister, she's a maid in there, she'll take you to my Lady."

Johnny opened the door and slid out of the truck, more like dropped out of the truck, being so high off the ground. The car door slammed shut behind him. And with a heavy rev of the engine and the screeching of huge rubber tires on cement, the Jerry and the giant red truck were gone before Johnny could even turn around to say thank you. Only a pair of black tire print burn out streaks remained. With nothing to turn back to, Johnny proceeded up the polished marble stairs towards the great red elm doors. His feet felt rather heavy.

The doors stood tall before him, a large brass knocker with a crest of a leafless tree set aflame neatly engraved in it. He slowly reached out and wrapped his skinny fingers around the cold metal handle of the knocker. But it had to have weighed a ton! Johnny couldn't lift it more than an inch away from the wood. He gritted his teeth and latched onto it with both hands and pulled with all his might. It barely even budged. It even came to the point where he had to use both hands, and press both feet onto the door! How odd he looked, trying so hard and straining his sticks for arms just to knock on the door.

"Come on," Johnny snarled through his locked jaws, "Move you stupid son of a b-"

"Can I help you sir?" A woman's voice came up behind him.

Johnny turned very red. He loosened up and set his feet back on the ground. Boy was he embarrassed. He turned around and his jaw practically dropped off his face. Did Jerry just come back with a more feminine voice, smaller and daintier facial features, longer hair, a hair band of white roses, a neat navy blue dress, and an apron? This must have been the sister he told Johnny about. She looked so very similar to Jerry that it would have been a shock if they weren't related. She was holding a basket piled to the brim with newly picked carrots. This girl must have been a maid here.

Johnny unclasped his hands from the handle of the large door knocker and hid them behind his back, "I, uh, I'm supposed to be meeting someone inside."

She smiled kingly, "Oh. You must Be Mr. Colt. Yes, the Lady wishes to see you.

She moved towards the door and Johnny stepped aside. But first, the girl eyed the doorknocker, inspecting it all over. Then she lifted it up, all the way up. Johnny began fuming on the inside.

"Hmmm," She spoke to herself, "Maybe this old thing is getting rusty."

She abandoned the knocker and tugged on the handle of the door, which creaked as it slowly swung open. The wanderings of the inside just poured right into Johnny's eyes. He had never been anywhere near a mansion before. This was like from an episode of the Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous, which didn't last long after Johnny put his foot through the television set for such hatred to the over-glorified celebrity of the day. Johnny wasn't sure what heaven was like, but this house surely belonged up there, not down here in Hell.

A massive and intricate crystal chandelier hung from the high up ceiling, which had a detailed painting of the night sky upon it. It was so realistic you could mistake the ceiling for being missing under the stars. But down on floor level, everything was white, with the exception of the dark doors and wood tables which held various little decorative touches like pure white vases. There were two grand winding staircases trimmed with gold railings that curved around the low hanging chandelier up to the higher level.

The maid set her basket of carrots on one of the nearby polished tables and turned to Johnny, "Follow me please."

She turned to proceed up the left staircase, her black leather shoes clicked briskly on the marble steps. Johnny followed a short distance behind her, running his hand along the golden rail. The two of them marched up the steps and followed a hallway that stretched quite a distance. Towards the end, Johnny could just make out a wooden spiral staircase towards the end. He eyed several paintings on the long walls that somehow portrayed someone rather familiar. Whoever it was gave Johnny a feeling of hate. Johnny followed the maid up the curling steps and they stopped before a door at the peak.

The girl knocked softly on the door, "Milady, Johnny is here to see you."

A gentle voice came through the other side of the door, "Send him in, please."

The maid turned the brass knob of the door slowly and pulled it open, holding it agape for Johnny to pass through. He walked through the thresh hold, admiring the chamber he had entered. It was a lovely room with a massive four poster bed adorned with a draped canopy of lavender silk. Tall shelves of dark oak cased rather ancient looking books, without a space for a single book more. There was a stout little tree growing straight out of the floor with its roots digging into the stone marble. The leaves were a deep green with a waxy coat. It pricked at Johnny's mind as to how exactly it survived. What caught Johnny's eye was the woman standing a little off the balcony view, facing away from him.

Deep brown hair, long angelic white dress, petite frame, It had to be Rose.

She spoke, her voice was deep and smooth like dark chocolate, "I am sorry, Johnny, but I am not the one you think I am."

His face fell with disappointment as she turned around. It was not his Rose. But this woman looked so similar to her, yet so different. Both were beautiful, but this one had more of a fox like majesty to her, when Rose was more like wandering fairy in the moonlight. Her eyes were shaped and colored as almonds were while her face was slightly thinner. This was not his Rose.

The woman held up the lengths of her white dress as she curtsied, "I welcome you, Johnny Colt, to my home. I am Lady Xiao of Shadow Kamistal."

Johnny nodded his head, feeling to be the proper thing to do in such a high manor place, "It is a pleasure to meet you. May I please know why I am here now?"

Xiao spoke as she walked away from the balcony, "You and I have something in common. We are both familiar with a man on earth by the name of Ned."

Just the sound of his name made Johnny's clenched fists tighten. How his hate for Ned stirred within him.

Xiao stood before him, "I am Ned's true wife, his lover. His marriage upon your Rose has nothing to do with love or desire, but hunger."

Johnny looked confused yet serious, "Hunger? Couldn't he just suck some disgusting street trash dry? Why Rose?"

Xiao sighed, "My father was angry with my choice to marry Ned. He cursed him for all blood other than that of his wife would turn to ash in his mouth. Our punishment would be that either I would die from being drained, or he would die from starvation. I chose to die. He survived by remarrying only to drink their blood, all of them resembled me as your Rose does."

A knock sounded at the door. It slowly creaked open, revealing a bright a curious eye peaking inside. The door opened more and a young lady, who also resembled Xiao in a navy blue apron and curly hair, stood outside the door with silver water pitcher in her hands.

She squeaked, "Um, Lady Xiao, I have the water you asked for."

Xiao's voice was gracious, "Thank you, Erica. Please set it by the basin."

The girl's shiny black shoes tapped across the marble floor. Johnny could hear the heavy pitcher clunk on the wooden table on the other side of the room which also held up a large copper basin. All that Johnny could mindlessly think about was dejevou as he watched the girl walk back into the hallway and close the door behind her.

Xiao strolled over to the table that was just attended to and picked up the heavy silver pitcher.

She summoned him, "Johnny, please come here. I think you should see this."

Johnny curiously approached the table with utmost apprehensiveness. He slyly edge around Xiao to see what she directed to. She tilted the pitcher and crystal clear water poured from its spout, splashing into the large bronzy bowl.

Johnny stared at it, seeing nothing unordinary about it. To him, it was only water settling in a fancy bowl. The only odd thing about it that struck Johnny as nothing but strange, was the fact that the pool of water did not have a reflection, yet there was plenty of light to reflect in the room. It was there that something happened. It was like a picture was softly fading into the water's surface. Johnny and Xiao watched carefully, Johnny the one being fascinated. It was as if a television screen was slowly becoming visible under the water. It was a slightly foggy image of two figures. Every moment, the picture became clearer. The two shapes began to fill with color, one white and the other black. The back round was a dark grey. Soon the black figure manifested deep crimson red hair, while the white one had dark brown. It finally sharpened into vision to reveal Ned and Rose in the chapel of the castle, Johnny's blood soaked body off a little ways.

"Rose!" Johnny's eyes widened to the size of tea saucers.

It was like the introduction of a tragic movie. Ned was laughing, Rose was crying, and he was dead. It only became worse when Ned proceeded onto grabbing her by the wrist and dragging her away. The picture followed the two the whole time. Ned tossed Rose onto the floor of his bed chamber. Johnny could only watch in horrible suspense as Ned began his ceremony to drain Rose while she tried to escape. She appeared injured.

Then, Rose slowly lifted off the ground like a marionette. It was like he was hanging off an invisible wall. She was only inches off the cold stone floor. Johnny could have only imagined how terrifying this was to Rose. If only he could be there for her. If only he could save her. Ned smoothly approached her as she wringed and squirmed to free herself from the invisible restraints. Johnny intently stared down into the water, eyeing every advancement Ned made, nervousness and anger boiling up in his stomach. The next thing he saw made him practically growl like a beast. Ned tilted his head down to meet Rose's lips, ignoring her refusal.

"That bastard!" Johnny slammed him scrawny fist down onto the table. Xiao jumped a bit with surprise.

The copper basin rattled on the table and the water was disrupted, making the infuriating image tremor.

"See what happens now, Johnny." Xiao recomposed her calm, wise composure and turned back to viewing the situation on earth. Johnny breathed deeply and peered back into the looking water.

He must have missed something during his little uproar. The only thing Johnny saw was Ned collapsing to the floor with little Squee holding a dagger into his heart. He couldn't help but feel a great swell of pride for his little friend with his first kill. Ned fell to the floor, inert and motionless for the rest of time. It was finally over.

Xiao turned to Johnny, "It was wise that the weapon you gave the child was made of silver."

Johnny scratched the back of his head with a little color to his pale face, "I, actually, didn't know what it was made of. It was one of hundreds I found in my house."

Xiao closed her eyes and waved her hand mystically over the base of magical water, the image slowly fading into the clear liquid.

Johnny started, "No, why did you do that! I wanted to watch them forever! I'll never see them again!"

She sighed and strode to the center of the room, "Johnny. You do not have to worry anymore. Ned is gone, and things will be better. Soon, you and the others will be reunited."

Johnny raised an eyebrow and pleased for answers, "What do you mean? Are they going to die soon? Tell me!"

Xiao raised her hands above her head and her eyes slowly closed. Johnny was feeling a little lightheaded. What was happening? A bright light slowly began eminating from where she stood, the room eventually becoming almost blinded with whiteness. The last thing Johnny saw was Xiao opening her eyes and staring at him, then a brilliant white flash that stung his eyes.

He could hear Xiao's voice, "Farewell, Johnny. We will meet again when the time is right. Until then, you must care for those who need you most."

_Where am I?_

The Maiden of Light: Yeeeeeeeaaaaaah! I finally finished it! It took me forever with distractions and all, but it is done. Only one chapter left, and it's over. Read, Review, and Rejoice! dances around, throwing confetti into the air


	18. I Love You

_This feeling, it's so warm. I could probably fall asleep right here, but I think I already am. But why is it so bright? _

Rose held Johnny's limp head in her lap. His lips were slightly parted and his eyes softly closed. He looked like he was simply asleep, only dead. There were a few salty drops of water on his cheek where Rose's tears had fallen. Johnny's blood was staining the pure white fabric of the wedding dress Rose wore. She cradled Johnny's head with one hand and held up his heavy hand with the other. The blood had dried where it blossomed on Johnny's shirt. He looked so dead, like a candle after it was blown out by the wind. Rose was humming a soft song, the song that she sang Squee to sleep with.

_Wait a moment, what's that sound? It's so familiar, so soothing and beautiful. I know that I've heard it before somewhere. It's becoming louder…_

Squee was standing a bit behind Rose. His eyes were brimmed with tears that were rolling down his cheeks. He still couldn't cope with the fact that the one man who could never be caught actually could be killed. Johnny's face was as pale as the full moon, and all Squee could do was cry. Deep in his heart, the little boy was singing along with Rose's song of lament.

Squee mustered up the strength to speak a few shaky words, punctuated by sobs, "Rosie? What are w-we going to do w-w-with Johnny?"

Rose bit her lip as she held back more tears from falling, "I… I don't know Squee. But I don't think he would want we leave his body here."

Rose's breathing constantly faltered from steady to choppy. She gently knelt in her head, her forehead resting lightly on Johnny's. Rose's tears fell under Johnny's eyes, giving the impression that he was crying as well.

_Now I hear something else. It's…it's…crying. Somebody's crying. It sounds like a girl. It sounds like…like Rose. Rose…is crying. _

The complete whiteness made a drastic shift to total darkness. It was as if someone turned out the lights just by flipping the switch. A soft light slowly filled Johnny's eyes. His lids gently opened to a squint. He could see the world. Was this heaven? Was he not accepted in Hell, where he wasn't really mistreated at all? He could feel a slightly warmth on his forehead a tiny wet chill on his cheeks. Something fine and feathery was tickling his eyebrows. His eyes slowly opened to see something too close to him to identify. Whoever it was, its eyelashes were tickling him.

It the person opened their eyes. And Johnny could only stare into those beautiful green eyes. They were like endless crystal balls with swirling mists inside. Just like Rose's eyes.

_Rose…_

Johnny gently closed his eyes, feeling a sense of completely relief washing over him like an ocean tide. He felt a warm and gentle grasp around his hand. As carefully as he could, Johnny maneuvered his skinny fingers to lace within Rose's. Her eyes shot open with surprise. She felt the cold gloved fingers of her deceased Johnny intertwine with her own.

_He moved…he moved!_

Rose backed her face away from Johnny's, only to stare down at him. His mouth was slightly open and his chest was rising and falling with his breath. The color was slowly but surely returning to his face. Johnny's eyes opened, the sight of his Rose, so beautiful even with eyes reddened from the crying and shiny tear streaked cheeks, brought a minute curve of a smile to his lips.

"Hello Rose," Johnny's eyes were slightly clouded, but gradually becoming clear, "I missed you."

Several crystal beads of tears rolled down Rose's blushed cheeks as she smiled. The sparkle in her eyes reminded Johnny of flashing stars. As he did, Rose felt a wave of relief and happiness like a stream wash over her. She threw herself down on Johnny and embraced him, afraid that he may disappear from her again.

"Oh, Johnny," Rose sobbed on his shoulder, "I…I was afraid t-t-that I was going to lose you f-fore-e-ever!"

Johnny delicately wrapped his arms around the crying girl and embraced her in a loving hold. This tender hug filled him with so much warmth; he couldn't understand why he wanted to be stoic and cold, without feeling and emotions, in the first place. He overcame a field of thought that almost made him spit at his old way of observing emotion. He could feel his shoulder becoming rather damp. Wet from tears of love. He breathed in the scent of Rose's warm soft hair; it smelt of stargazing on the beach.

"Rose," Johnny whispered in her ear.

She raised her head to look at him, her eyes deep and distressed, "Yes, Johnny?"

He carefully slipped a runaway lock of hair aside from her beautiful face behind her ear, "I think it took a trip to hell and back to force me to realize this but…I…I…"

Johnny was lost for words. He only prayed that this wouldn't result in severe consequences concerning her feelings toward him.

"I love you, Johnny." Rose blurted out.

He was struck silent. His heart felt like it was filling with sugar.

"Really," Johnny smiled lightly, "Because, well, I love you too Rose."

Her eyes softened, as Johnny's did. But they were filmed lightly by a mysterious shimmer that could only be defined as love. Perhaps it was the heat of the moment, or the light of realization, but before they knew it, Johnny's and Rose's lips were only lingering centimeters apart. With the most strength Johnny has ever had to muster, he closed the final space between them. Together, they dove into the basking glow of happiness that was their first kiss.

Rose wrapped her arms around Johnny's shoulders, while feeling his soft yet chapped lips upon her own. In response, Johnny tightened the hold he had around her waist, indulging in Rose's sweet cherry blossom lips. This wasn't earth. Xiao had sent him straight to heaven.

They finally parted. Johnny was left so dazed, his head was swimming. He licked his lips as his eyes settled into those of his love, who stared back. It was a moment of pure bliss to Johnny. Never before had he wanted something so very badly and gotten it in the end. It was like those fairytale books Johnny would listen in on when Rose was reading Squee to sleep. It couldn't have ended more perfect. But maybe not.

"Uh…Johnny?" Rose broke away from their shared bliss; her face looked a little puzzled.

"Yes, Rose?" Johnny was now longing for a second kiss. Something in his scalp was tingling.

Um," she gently ran her fingers through his hair. It was like an angel's touch, "There's something wrong here."

She showed Johnny her hand. It held a rather messy lock of dark raven hair. Johnny looked up and shook his head. Almost all of his hair fell off his head and fluttered to the floor. Rose's face looked as though it were trying not to speak, cry, and laugh all at the same time. Johnny swiped his hand over his almost bare scalp one more time to clear away the loose hair. He then pulled Rose in close again and met her lips with passion. Yep, still perfect.

_Dear Die-ary,September 3 _

_I'm sorry that I haven't written in you for a while, but I have a good excuse. I was walking home when some jerks pushed me right into the path of a speeding car. It hurt a lot. Squee and this really pretty girl named Rose saved me and took me to the hospital. Because none of us could afford to fully pay my bill, I had to stay over at Rose's house after the operation. I wanted to kill the nurse that had to keep an eye on me. I just want to slice a new orifice into her bulging stomach, rip out her guts, and strangle her with her own intestine. Something stopped me though. _

_Afterwards, I started falling for my caretaker. She is amazing in everyway, well, except cooking. Rose could probably burn water. Even so, I couldn't take her off my mind. She changed me. I never thought my character could be so dynamic. One night, I got to dance with Rose. She is an incredible swing dancer. Well, I am too now that I learned. When Rose was out, I snuck into her room and watched a few her past dance recitals on home video. I hope she doesn't read that. _

_Then this guy named Ned shows up. Whenever he was anywhere near Rose, I couldn't help but get a feeling that hurt my internal organs. It felt like jealousy. They only other time I can really remember experiencing a phenomenon like that was when I envied Mr. Samsa for being exactly what I longed for. Anyways, This Ned turned out to be a vampire that kidnapped Rose and wanted to marry her. Squee and I stole the bat car and rescued her. Don't worry, we gave it back. I died once too. I met Ned's wife down in hell and she sent me back to earth. Then Rose and I confessed our love to each other. Not only that, all my hair fell out. What a crazy life I live._

_Dear Die-ary,September 7_

_Rose has to go back to college now. She goes to a nearby community college only a mile away. By the way, Squee's parents were arrested. The Little guy's dad tried to drown him in the tub, but luckily for him, I stopped by to borrow some hydrogen peroxide. I didn't kill the man. The knife slipped out of my hands. Anyways, now he's in the hands of a caring orphanage. I visit him every once in a while. Those little children are all antichrists! _

_Dear Die-ary,November 18_

_My hair is starting to grow back. I'm pretty glad, because it's getting colder every day. I moved in with Rose finally. When I went back to my house, I found a landfill. Everything was gone! But Rose took me in. She bought me this cool fleece hat with an evil penguin on it. I love evil penguins. There is nothing I can do to express my love for her. It's seems like her kindness is almost endless. Right now, she's learning how to knit blankets and stuff. _

_Dear Die-ary,March 2_

_I think that there's something wrong with Rose. She looks sick all the time and is really nervous about everything. Yesterday was her twenty-first birthday. An hour or so after eating cake, yum cake, she threw it all back up. I think she's sick. I hope she gets better. _

_Dear Die-ary,May 3_

_Two great things have happened to me. I found the strength to ask Rose the most intensifying question in the world. "Will you marry me?" She said yes. I think I started jumping around later. I fell down the stairs too. Now I have a lot of band-aids on my head. It's hard to write in detail when you're so overwhelmed with happiness. _

_Dear Die-ary, April 30_

_Today was the biggest shock of my life. When Rose and I went to Club Sonic for a Swing Dance Contest, which apparently we launched the idea for, she wasn't well. I practically had to pick her up and carry her out of her room to get her to go. She kept saying that people might think she was fat. How is that possible? Whenever I look at her, I see a beauty that surpasses that of angels. How can she think that? But when it was our turn to take the floor, she passed out. _

_We were taken to the hospital because she wouldn't wake up. They ran some tests and stuff. Then I was told that Rose was expected in six months. I asked why and they said that she was pregnant. Rose is going to have a baby! I just pray that this is a blessing of our love and not the harsh consequences of our… actions. But for Rose and this child, I'm ready to be a father._

_Dear Die-ary,October 17_

_My daughter was born today. I felt the coldness of my past days creeping up my spine. But it wasn't from regret. It was from fear. Lots of doctors and nurses add to interfere with this routine delivery with lots of panic. I'm not allowed in the delivery room right now. The child was born fine and without a scratch, but Rose wasn't doing to well. They could not stop her bleeding by what I hear. _

_I have just been informed that Rose and my daughter are alive and well. _

_When I saw them, that instant, the little girl in the arms of my soon to be wife, I cried. They were tears unlike any other that had streamed down my face. It was a crying of relief, of joy, of pure happiness. It was a moment of perfection that only my mind could fully understand about now being a father. I asked Rose to name her. My daughter's name is Sylvia Rosetta Colt. And she has the beauty of her mother. My love, my sanctuary, my Rose. _

The Maiden of Light: Well, there you have it. They story is over. sobs I...I...I love you guys for reading. One day, I'll write my own book and think of you guys at every public signing. Well, sorta. I'm thinking about a sequel. So read, review, and rock out loud!

Maiden and KISS: I wanna rock and roll all night, and party every day.


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